About Virginia Mason Institute

Julie Manas is President of CommonSpirit Health’s Northwest Region, providing executive leadership to Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Washington, and St. Anthony Hospital and CHI Mercy Health in Oregon.

Julie Manas is President of CommonSpirit Health’s Northwest Region, providing executive leadership to Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Washington, and St. Anthony Hospital and CHI Mercy Health in Oregon. With over 30 years of extensive health care leadership experience, including roles as Division President for Quorum Health Corporation and Region President for Ascension Indiana, Julie is a proven leader in enhancing quality and patient safety, driving strategic growth, and achieving operational excellence. A dedicated advocate for mission-driven care, she served eight years on the Catholic Health Association Board of Trustees, including a term as Board Chair. Julie holds a Master of Arts in Hospital and Health Administration from the University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Science from Iowa State University.

Ingrid Gerbino, MD, FACP is Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and Medical Director of the Virginia Mason Institute.

Ingrid Gerbino, MD FACP serves as Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer on the Senior Executive Team of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, where she oversees vision, strategy and the implementation of the Virginia Mason Production System® in the Northwest Region of CommonSpirit Health. As Medical Director of the Virginia Mason Institute, she provides leadership to support global clients in achieving cultural transformation and performance excellence.

Since joining Virginia Mason Medical Center in 1995, Ingrid has practiced general internal medicine and held various medical leadership roles including Chief of the Primary Care Department, and Senior Physician Faculty for the Virginia Mason Institute, where she coached providers on integrating key elements of the Virginia Mason Production System® into their practice. Dr. Gerbino is a Kaizen Fellow graduate in the Virginia Mason Production System®.

Wendy Korthuis-Smith, Ed.D., M.S., is Executive Director of the Virginia Mason Institute, leading global transformation strategy and continuous improvement initiatives.

Wendy Korthuis-Smith, Ed.D., M.S., is Executive Director at Virginia Mason Institute. Wendy provides leadership and oversees the development of new products and services to strategically assess, identify improvement opportunities, develop and implement transformation and transition plans, and continually evaluate continuous improvement for clients worldwide. Wendy holds significant experience developing and implementing large scale transformation and transition plans.

Wendy came to Virginia Mason Institute from Deloitte Consulting, and spent several years prior with the Washington State Governor’s Office where she led state government transformation through the development and implementation of Results Washington, a performance improvement initiative incorporating 53 state government agencies, boards and commissions across five priority goal areas. She worked with Virginia Mason early on in her career as a leadership development consultant. Wendy is trained in the Virginia Mason Production System®.

Gordon Sansaver, MBA, is Associate Executive Director of the Virginia Mason Institute, leading European partnerships and global operations.

Gordon Sansaver, MBA, is Associate Executive Director at Virginia Mason Institute. Gordon oversees the Institute’s partnerships in Europe while also holding responsibility for the global operations of the organization. He is an expert in strategic planning, culture change and project management and also has over a decade of experience in empowering and facilitating teams to realize meaningful and sustained improvement.

Prior to joining Virginia Mason Institute, Gordon served as an expert in Virginia Mason’s management system and quality improvement methodology – focusing on teaching, coaching and partnering with leadership to improve quality and reduce waste across the organization. In that capacity, he led numerous improvement projects and helped to achieve meaningful change in areas across the health system – including primary and specialty ambulatory, inpatient, and emergency care; facilities, supply chain, human resources, and finance. He is certified in the Virginia Mason Production System®.

Brenda McLeod, MBA, CCMP, PMP leads change management services at the Virginia Mason Institute, bringing 25+ years of consulting and transformation experience.

Brenda McLeod, MBA, CCMP, PMP, provides leadership and oversight in supporting our clients and expanding our service offerings and content in the change management space. She has over 25 years’ experience in consulting, strategic planning, change management, project management, leadership, and facilitation for privately-held companies, corporations and the public sector. She has been recognized for an outstanding ability to help businesses identify goals, guiding principles and roadmap to achieve operational objectives and ROI.

An effective facilitator in helping business lines identify current and future states with the ability to bring together people, process and technology. Brenda has her Masters of Business Administration, IT Management and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) as well as one of the first 88 in the world to be a Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP). She is a strategic planner with a keen sense for relationship management, executive coaching and process improvement.