As a longtime entrepreneur, business leader and health care practitioner, Patti Plough personifies a rare combination of passion, strategic thinking and genuine concern for others’ well-being. These qualities help her connect with audiences in an engaging, sincere fashion, setting the stage for learning and honest self-reflection.
Patti’s career has traversed many miles, and nearly as many directions. She began on the front lines of health care, working as a bedside nurse for 15 years. This backdrop shaped much of her career path, especially the experience of seeing patients suffer from chronic conditions that might have been prevented with proactive, preventive treatments.
She first ventured into entrepreneurship by founding a company that provided health screenings and exams for insurance companies. A few years later, she added an event services firm that produced around 200 events a year.
Patti’s journey of innovation peaked when she assumed ownership and leadership of a full-service wellness provider serving hundreds of customers, domestically and internationally. Her focus on strategic planning fueled significant company growth. Her emphasis on developing process and protocols on the health care side, combined with strict operational standards on the business end, led to customer retention in the mid-90th percentile.
Knowing that her company was a likely takeover target, Patti secured the future of the company, and its employees, by leading its transition to a 100% employee-owned ESOP. The positive, fulfilling experience led her back into entrepreneurship ... and a new career as a consultant for organizations considering ESOPs.
Patti holds a diploma degree in nursing from Gateway Technical College. She and her husband, Dan, have two adult daughters, both have been involved in Healics. Patti serves on several company and organization boards of directors in the Milwaukee area. She and Dan split time between southeastern Wisconsin and Key West, Fla. ... because those Wisconsin winters can tend to grow just a bit too long.
