Scott Griffith, Founding Partner
Scott Griffith gained his reputation for world-class collaborative skills through success in working with high-consequence industries across the globe. He initially came to prominence in the field of aviation, and is widely recognized as the father of the airline industry’s Aviation Safety Action Programs (ASAP). In 1997, he received the Admiral Luis de Florez Award from the Flight Safety Foundation for his outstanding contribution to aviation safety. The Flight Safety Foundation cited this commendation:
“Captain Griffith recognized that a more systematic approach, involving a high degree of employee-regulator-employer cooperation, was needed to fully identify, understand, and resolve potential safety problems and risks in airline operations. As the culmination of his many years of service on behalf of aviation safety, he designed and originated the Airline Safety Action Partnership program at American Airlines, which has now become an aviation industry standard.”
In 2000, United States Surgeon General David Satcher invited Scott to advise a Department of Health and Human Services committee on Blood Safety and Availability. From there, Scott applied his unique approach to focus on improving outcomes across multiple values in healthcare organizations, collaborating with hundreds of hospitals across the country.
Throughout his career, Scott has worked closely with government regulators in several industry sectors, and has led performance improvement implementations at numerous large healthcare systems, airlines, railroads, energy companies, and joint state and national collaborative projects. His experience brings insight into how the collaborative model supports a wide range of values and objectives, from patient safety and clinical outcomes to privacy, compassion, fiscal responsibility, customer satisfaction, and operational excellence. He has worked extensively with management, labor, and government officials and is widely recognized for his ability to help organizations achieve consensus results in support of common goals.
In addition, Scott has 25 years of experience at American Airlines, first as an international captain, then as the managing director of Corporate Safety and Quality Evaluations. In recognition of his contributions to worldwide aviation safety, Scott has received numerous awards and citations from both government agencies and the private sector.
Scott holds a MS in Physics from Texas A&M University and a BA in English and Physics from Texas Christian University. His master’s thesis contributed to the research and commercial development of the airborne windshear LIDAR project under grant from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Paul LeSage
Paul joined Scott as Partner and Collaborator, demonstrating the true spirit of the Collaborative Solutions approach to producing better outcomes. Drawing on his distinguished career as a lead flight paramedic, assistant fire chief, and director of Oregon’s second-largest emergency 911 and dispatch center, Paul went on to author a book on crew resource management, start his own publishing company and join Oregon Health and Science University as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine. In 2011, Paul and Scott became friends after speaking on the same agenda at an emergency medical services conference in Denver, Colorado. At SG Collaborative Solutions™, Paul continues on his life-long journey of serving organizations and communities while setting the “gold standard” of collaboration for his colleagues.
Paul’s work includes conducting complex event investigations, helping organizations integrate Just Culture principles into their internal justice systems, evaluating learning systems in high reliability industries, and teaching leaders, managers, supervisors, clinicians, and other front-line operators how to best instill Just Culture into daily operational practices. His work as Founder and CEO of Critical Decision Partners, LLC included conducting post-incident analyses using a “Just Culture” approach. Paul examined and evaluated operational systems, tasks, behavioral choices, learning systems, value conflicts, policies, and other factors that drive error chains within Emergency Medical Services, Fire-Rescue, Healthcare, and Emergency Dispatch organizations. His work helped the organizations develop strategies to mitigate future risk, appropriately support the involved front-line operators, and provide a road map for measurable and improved outcomes. His work also provided consulting, teaching, and implementation strategies for public and private entities interested in High Reliability Learning Systems, Just Culture integration, Team Communication Strategies, and Peer Review/QI. In addition, Paul is a nationally known speaker and educator on the topics of High Reliability Practices, Just Culture Integration at the Operational, Executive, and Supervisor levels, Crew Resource Management, Quality Improvement, and Incident Analysis. He co-wrote the Jones & Bartlett book, “Crew Resource Management, Principles and Practices”, and is currently conducting research in situational awareness, team culture, and feedback systems within Healthcare, Fire-Rescue, and EMS.
Prior to starting his own company and joining SG Collaborative Solutions, Paul was the Interim Director of Washington County Emergency Communications Agency (WCCCA), where he managed emergency communications for over seventeen Fire, Police, and EMS agencies. Paul worked at Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue for twenty-nine years, starting as a Firefighter/Paramedic. He spent five years on the Technical Rescue Team, and holds certifications in Dive Rescue, High Angle Rescue, and Trench Rescue. Paul worked his way through the ranks, becoming the agency’s EMS Chief, and in 2000 was promoted to Assistant Chief (AC) under Chief Jeff Johnson. Paul worked for three years as the AC in charge of Logistics, Human Resources, EMS, and Training, and then spent the next six years as the AC over Operations, EMS, and Training, supervising three Divisions and over 400 career and volunteer firefighters. His seven years as a flight paramedic/lead paramedic were spent at Life Flight Network, servicing Legacy Health Systems in Portland, Oregon. From 1993 through 1994 he served as Secretary-Treasurer for the National Flight Paramedics Association.
Dale Oda, MD
Dale Oda joined SGCS as a principal collaborator from Hawaii where he was born and raised. His impressive educational background includes receiving a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from Purdue University in 1975 in electrical engineering. After returning to Hawaii, he worked briefly in the engineering field before becoming interested in the healthcare industry.
With emergency medical services emerging as a new field in Hawaii, Dale became a Paramedic and started working for the City & County of Honolulu. His EMS experience included working as a Paramedic on med-evac helicopters and inter-island air ambulances. Desiring to continue his medical education, Dale entered medical school at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine. After graduating with a M.D. degree in 1985, Dale interned at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, and completed his residency training in emergency medicine at Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey.
Over the next 25 years, Dale gained a wealth of experience by holding a variety of positions at The Emergency Group, Inc., a multi-physician partnership that staffed the emergency department at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, which is the lead trauma center and busiest Emergency Department in Hawaii. He held positions as Vice-President of the Emergency Group, Chief of the Emergency Department, served as chairman of the ED physician peer review committee, and reviewed morbidity/mortality cases throughout the hospital. Dale began to oversee the business and administration of the Emergency Group as their Managing Director in 2007, and under his direction the Emergency Group expanded from 7 physicians to more than 30 physicians and staff.
In addition to Dale’s notable professional achievements, clinical and didactic teaching roles have also been a major part of his career. Dale’s students have included residents, medical students, paramedics, nurses, and other ancillary medical staff. He served formally as the Director of the Emergency Medicine clerkship at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine from 2001-2007, and since then, he has continued to be involved with EMT and paramedic training in Honolulu.
Dale’s wife, Jane, also in the healthcare industry, is a registered nurse in the Cardiac Recovery Unit at The Queen’s Medical Center. They have been married for 32 years, and are the proud parents of son, Marcus, and daughter, Chelsea. His son Marcus is a human rights attorney and works with the U.S. State Department as a program director in eastern Europe. Their daughter Chelsea is a talented architect with ZGF Architects, the largest architectural firm in Portland, Oregon, and rated the 2016 top architectural firm overall in the U.S. by Architect magazine.
Dale brings his wealth of experience in EMS, hospital based emergency services, business development, and engineering to SGCS, and he has proven to be a thoughtful and engaging collaborator with unique perspectives on safety, reliability, and risk.
Michael Coffin
Michael Coffin is a technology executive, investor, inventor and entrepreneur based in California. Michael joined SGC as founding partner following the sale of Informed® Publishing, a medical content company he led that was acquired by Ascend Learning, a holding of Providence Equity Partners.
Widely recognized for his achievements in content-based technology platforms and systems, Michael has focused his career on the healthcare and public safety sectors. Since 2006, he has developed more than a dozen successful products and systems that help medical professionals and careerists acquire new knowledge, pass high-stakes exams and deliver better healthcare.
From 2007 until its acquisition in 2012, he was CEO of Informed and went on to serve as SVP of innovation and product development for its acquirer, Ascend Learning. Prior to Informed, Michael was CEO of Aerocast, a digital content streaming company backed by Liberty Media. Under his leadership, Aerocast secured 14 patents for broadband content delivery technology, leading to its acquisition by Motorola in 2002. Before Aerocast he was a senior officer for San Francisco energy giant PG&E, and earlier was CEO of a digital automation company in the energy field.
As an SGCS collaborator, Michael consults to public and private companies on digital content and learning platform development; business processes applications in healthcare delivery systems; cybersecurity; data analytics; and legacy system modernization strategies that preserve data and avoid business process disruptions. Situations where technology decisions and implementations carry high degrees of organizational and individual risk are focus areas for his consulting practice.
