2026 Community of Human and Organizational Learning 32nd Annual Conference: Full Schedule

IMPACT! CHOLearning 2026
The Community of Human and Organizational Learning’s 32nd Annual Learning Conference!

From June 22nd to 26th, our gathering at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, promises four immersive days packed with insights, innovation, and collaboration. Start the week with an array of workshops on Monday, kickstarting an enriching week, and explore the Co-Located workshops on Friday for a deeper dive into specialized topics.

Be sure to mark the workshops you plan to attend. We use this to help the presenters prepare and ensure we have the proper accommodations for everyone.

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6:00am MDT

Registration / Conference Check-In Open from 6:00am - 5:15pm

FULL

Tuesday June 23, 2026 6:00am - 6:30am MDT

South Convention Lobby

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

Conference Support Team

Jada Major

CHOLearning Registration Team, Community of Human and Organizational Learning

John Walters

OpEx and Human Performance, Sr. Consultant, Vistra

Conference Planning Manager

Katrina Major

CHOL Registration Team, Community of Human and Organizational Learning

Mary Webb

Secretary | Treasurer, CHOLearning

Mary is retired after 36 years of service with DTE Energy and currently serving as the Secretary / Treasurer for the Community of Human and Organizational Learning.

Led DTE Energy corporate initiative to implement Human Performance Improvement initiatives across the Company.

Certif... Read More →

Sahara Major

CHOLearning Registration Team, Community of Human and Organizational Learning

Ute Ingersoll

Registration Support, MiComputers

Tuesday June 23, 2026 6:00am - 6:30am MDT
South Convention Lobby IM PEI Tower Court Second Floor Level

Registration, Conference Day 2

6:30am MDT

Speaker Check-in with Tech Team 6:00am - 5:15pm

Tuesday June 23, 2026 6:30am - 7:00am MDT

Aspen

All Speakers, please check in with the Tech team upon arrival or at least the day before you are scheduled to present.

Conference Presentations: Please bring your actual presentation to the conference on a USB DRIVE (PowerPoint or whatever) and connect with the Tech's upon arrival so that we can assure EVERYTHING RUNS CORRECTLY on our computers and your AV needs are met.

This is a critical step to assure our conference program is executed flawlessly.

To arrange a meet-up, stop by the registration desk.

Conference Support Team

Branden Ingersoll

Registration Support, MI Computers

Josh Ingersoll

Lead A/V Technician, MiComputers

Mike Ingersoll

Founder, MiComputers

Savannah Major

CHOLearning Tech Support Team, Community of Human and Organizational Learning

Tuesday June 23, 2026 6:30am - 7:00am MDT
Aspen IM PEI Tower Mezzanine Level

Speaker Check-in, Conference Day 2

8:00am MDT

Welcome to the 32nd Annual CHOL Conference

Tuesday June 23, 2026 8:00am - 8:15am MDT

Grand Ballroom

Moderator

Charles Major

Sr. Director of Operational Excellence and Human Performance at Vistra; President at the Community of Human & Organizational Learning, Vistra

Charles is an alchemist/evangelist/connector by nature and is passionate about big and disruptive ideas to improve the system/human interface and the leadership required to inspire discretionary effort. He leads the Operational Excellence & Human Performance efforts for Vistra; the... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 8:00am - 8:15am MDT
Grand Ballroom

General Session, Conference Day 1

8:15am MDT

A Journey in Pursuit of Safe Operations: From Compliance to Capability

Tuesday June 23, 2026 8:15am - 9:35am MDT

Grand Ballroom

Safety is a Core Tenant of Southwest Airlines’ culture, guiding behavior, decision-making, and operational excellence.

Every industry faces risks – the differentiator is how effectively those risks are evaluated and mitigated through strong systems and controls.

SMS within the airline industry provides a framework for identifying, assessing, and managing safety risks. A strong Safety Culture drives informed decision-making and consistent operational behaviors. Effective Leadership – and a willingness to support change – is critical to sustaining risk assurance and continuous evaluation of significant safety risks.

Sustained Leadership commitment enables effective oversight, risk assurance, and continuous improvement. A strong Safety Culture translates risk awareness into consistent, safe operational behaviors.

Conference Presenters

Captain Chris Collier

Director, Flight Operations Standards, Southwest Airlines Co.

Captain Chris Collier is Director of Flight Operations Standards and a senior aviation leader responsible for operational standards, pilot evaluation, and training effectiveness. He is both an airline pilot and a licensed Aviation Maintenance Technician, offering a rare, system‑wide... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 8:15am - 9:35am MDT
Grand Ballroom

General Session, Conference Day 2

9:35am MDT

Break- 15 minutes

Tuesday June 23, 2026 9:35am - 9:50am MDT

Grand Ballroom Foyer

Tuesday June 23, 2026 9:35am - 9:50am MDT
Grand Ballroom Foyer IM PEI Tower Second Floor Level

9:50am MDT

Real Safety: Building EHS systems and AI strategy on the foundation of HOP & SIF prevention

Tuesday June 23, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am MDT

Grand Ballroom

Abstract
Tesla has been driving EHS initiatives such as employee engagement and action programs at global level through KPIs and programs. Our study leveraged advanced analytics to evaluate the impact of these initiatives on safety outcomes, demonstrating their effectiveness and providing actionable insights for continuous improvement. The study also shows how the findings informed the EHS strategy through integration of AI and refinement of EHS KPIs with the overarching goal of focusing on HOP and SIF prevention. This data-driven approach provides EHS a path of understanding the impact of existing initiatives and how they can be further optimized through analytics and AI for a greater impact on safety performance.

Learning Objectives
- Practical application of advanced analytics in EHS
- Impact of employee engagement and action initiatives on safety outcomes
- Integration of advanced analytics and machine learning to derive continuous improvements in EHS strategy
- Data-driven decision making in EHS

Conference Presenters

Alexandra Matei

Global EHS Data Lead, Tesla

Experienced professional bridging data science and computer science to empower organizations through actionable insights. With a focus on advanced analytics, the exploration of best practices and outcomes in EHS (Environmental, Health, and Safety) and HOP (Human and Organizational... Read More →

Gudmundur Þorsteinsson

Human and Organizational Performance Lead, Tesla

Experienced Health Safety Environment Coordinator with a demonstrated history of working in the aluminium industry. Skilled in Auditing, Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) and Teaching Human Performance Improvement. Strong manufacturing operations professional with a Masters... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 9:50am - 10:40am MDT
Grand Ballroom

General Session, Conference Day 2

10:40am MDT

Break- 10 minutes

Tuesday June 23, 2026 10:40am - 10:50am MDT

Grand Ballroom Foyer

Tuesday June 23, 2026 10:40am - 10:50am MDT
Grand Ballroom Foyer IM PEI Tower Second Floor Level

Break, Conference Day 2

10:50am MDT

From Hype to High Reliability: Human Capability as the Foundation of AI Success

Tuesday June 23, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am MDT

Grand Ballroom

Agentic AI is gaining attention as a new class of systems that move beyond analysis to actively observe, interpret, and support operational decisions. This session begins with a brief, practical overview of what agentic AI is, and what it is not, before turning quickly to where it can be applied today.
The focus is on real-world use cases across three areas that are relevant to many of the practitioners in the attendance: safety, HOP, and RCA. Taken together, these three areas reinforce each other: connecting everyday operations, learning from events, and sustained risk reduction. Agentic AI can help tighten the connection by stitching signals, context, and actions into a continuous cycle of improvement.
In safety, agentic systems can sit on top of existing safety data and management systems, continuously monitoring signals, applying predictive models, and delivering plain-language guidance to frontline teams. Rather than static dashboards, these systems combine data, models, and agent-based interaction to help identify emerging risk, support coaching, and shift organizations from reactive reporting to forward-looking prevention.
In Human and Organizational Performance (HOP), agentic AI can make operational load more visible, surfacing signals of demand, constraint, and tradeoffs—and help identify conditions where the system is nearing its capacity to fail, not just its capacity to perform. By highlighting these conditions in context, agents can support better metrics and the subsequent conversations around system design, work-as-done, and organizational learning.
In root cause analysis (RCA), agentic approaches can help address one of the biggest constraints: fragmented and incomplete information. Agents can automatically assemble timelines, pull together reports, logs, and records, and surface contributing factors more quickly, reducing the manual effort and bias that often lead to shallow conclusions. This allows teams to move beyond symptom-level fixes and focus on underlying system conditions that drive repeat events.
The session also takes a grounded view of current limitations. Many agentic AI solutions are oversold, particularly in their level of autonomy and reliability. The most effective applications today are those that augment human judgment, operate within clear boundaries, and are tied closely to real operational context.
Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of where agentic AI is delivering value now, and how to evaluate opportunities without getting caught up in the hype.

Conference Presenters

Bob Latino

Principal, Prelical Solutions, LLC

Bob Latino is currently a Principal of Prelical Solutions, LLC. Bob was the former CEO of the Reliability Center, Inc. (RCI), until its acquisition in 2019. The Latino family founded, directed and owned RCI since 1972.He is an internationally recognized author, trainer, software developer... Read More →

Chris Buziak

irector - Human and Organizational Performance, Quanta Services

Chris Buziak is a high reliability expert who served 24 years in submarines in the US Navy. He spent eight years in Human and Organizational Performance in the pulp and paper industry. He is currently the Director for Human and Organizational Performance at Quanta Services, a utility... Read More →

Robert Stevens

Managing Partner, First Analytics

As part of the leadership team at First Analytics, Rob helps companies build programs to cultivate their analytics competency. He brings experience to bear stemming from more than thirty years as an analytics professional. His career has consisted of consulting, product development... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 10:50am - 11:40am MDT
Grand Ballroom

General Session, Conference Day 2

11:40am MDT

Lunch

Tuesday June 23, 2026 11:40am - 12:30pm MDT

Grand Ballroom

Tuesday June 23, 2026 11:40am - 12:30pm MDT
Grand Ballroom

Conference Meals, Conference Day 2

12:30pm MDT

Understanding and Applying HOP Principles

Tuesday June 23, 2026 12:30pm - 12:45pm MDT

Grand Ballroom

Understanding and Applying HOP Principles
Learning about Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) principles, concepts, and tools can feel overwhelming at first. They sound good in theory—but what do they really mean for your team, and how do you apply them in practice?
For some organizations, HOP has been part of the culture for years, woven into procedures and everyday work. But if you’re new to HOP—or trying to influence others—it helps to start with familiar examples.
Take the concepts of checklists and placekeeping. In everyday life, people use shopping lists to avoid missing or duplicating items. Now imagine going shopping without a pen to mark off what you’ve bought—frustrating, right? That simple habit illustrates why checklists matter: they reduce errors and improve reliability.
By connecting HOP principles to real-life experiences, people can see that these practices aren’t abstract—they’re practical. Start by asking: What do we already do to prevent mistakes? How can we apply those same habits at work? This approach makes HOP relatable and actionable.

Conference Presenters

Kenneth (Ken) Madson

Human Performance Improvement Specialist, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Ken has served on the Human performance team at Los Alamos for 28 monthsKen served 21 years in the US Army Aviation branch, performing maintenance, aviation management, establishing and improving safety programs, concept and design of weapons and equipment, as well as managing DOD... Read More →

Michael (Mike) Petrowski

Human Performance Improvement Specialist, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)

Mr. Petrowski has been a Human Performance Improvement (HPI) Specialist at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) since 2016 and has over 15 years’ experience championing HPI endeavors in Department of Energy and Commercial Nuclear Power settings.Mike works closely with management... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 12:30pm - 12:45pm MDT
Grand Ballroom

Rapid Fire, Conference Day 2

12:45pm MDT

Work, And The Wisdom Of Rivers

Tuesday June 23, 2026 12:45pm - 1:00pm MDT

Grand Ballroom

In a world where we often describe work life in terms of war (fighting to survive in industry, error as a threat, shielding our culture, hero stories, and so on), there is another option. Let's walk together into a different way of thinking. A perspective of organizational life not as conflict, but as the evolving course, ebbs, and flows of a river.

Conference Presenters

Ben Goodheart

Founder & Principal Consultant, Magpie Human Systems

Dr. Ben Goodheart is the founder of Magpie Human Systems, an international consultancy working with high-consequence industries to design organizations that are safe, resilient, and adaptable. He has 30 years of experience across industries, including aviation, healthcare, and power... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 12:45pm - 1:00pm MDT
Grand Ballroom

Rapid Fire, Conference Day 2

1:00pm MDT

Oh the Woe of the Wrongly Accused

Tuesday June 23, 2026 1:00pm - 1:15pm MDT

Grand Ballroom

The human brain makes thousands of rapid fire judgements as we process information around our environment, our interactions, and our experiences. Most of the time these quick judgements – based on our previous experiences, serve to short cut complex decision making structures and limit decision fatigue by using our natural tendency to recognize patterns to push us forward throughout our day – But sometimes the details are nuanced, the situation is different from expected, and these assumptions can lead us into Error Traps.

Conference Presenters

Christina Soto Millsaps

Sr. Contractor Assurance Specialist, Bechtel

With 21 years of progressive experience in Process Analysis and Development, Chris Soto Millsaps has sought opportunities to fill her toolkit with skillsets in Causal Analysis, Six Sigma, Lean Process Improvement, Human And Organizational Learning, Event Investigation, Safety-Quality... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 1:00pm - 1:15pm MDT
Grand Ballroom

Rapid Fire, Conference Day 2

1:20pm MDT

Break- 10 minutes

Tuesday June 23, 2026 1:20pm - 1:30pm MDT

Grand Ballroom Foyer

Tuesday June 23, 2026 1:20pm - 1:30pm MDT
Grand Ballroom Foyer IM PEI Tower Second Floor Level

Break, Conference Day 2

1:30pm MDT

CHOL - Survive or Thrive?

Tuesday June 23, 2026 1:30pm - 2:50pm MDT

Grand Ballroom

What makes the difference between a good conference and a great experience that changes things? Rob has been involved in over 30 CHOL/HPRCTs and provides a unique perspective on how to learn from the event and apply those learnings to make sustainable, positive changes. Applying your learnings to safety, quality, operations, maintenance, and other aspects of the organization also ensures that you can demonstrate a valid return on investment and achieve operational excellence. This interactive keynote is based on decades of practically applying information obtained at this conference. Take some things home that make things better.

Conference Presenters

Rob Fisher

President, Fisher Improvement Technologies

Rob Fisher is a pioneer in integrating Human and Organizational Performance and all aspects of Operational Excellence and Process Safety. He has a globally recognized capability to make the science of errors practically applicable. He has been involved in developing multiple industry... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 1:30pm - 2:50pm MDT
Grand Ballroom

General Session, Conference Day 2

2:50pm MDT

Break- 15 minutes

Tuesday June 23, 2026 2:50pm - 3:05pm MDT

Grand Ballroom Foyer

Tuesday June 23, 2026 2:50pm - 3:05pm MDT
Grand Ballroom Foyer IM PEI Tower Second Floor Level

Break, Conference Day 2

3:05pm MDT

Effective Repeat Event Reduction

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT

Spruce

Limited Capacity seats available

Repeat events can erode workforce culture and reduce innovation through the lack of understanding on why the event recurs. This normalizes risk to the crew who are generally outcome focused rather than process focused. Partnering with the crew and developing changes to the process WITH them is the key to produce effective change and reduce or prevent reoccurrence of unwanted events. This presentation will discuss how we got here, and the effort required to improve our process to reduce and mitigate future risk.

Conference Presenters

Orlan Lyle

Senior Director Operations Advisor, Noble Drilling

Drives operational improvements through observations with practical solutions.

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT
Spruce IM PEI Tower Mezzanine Level

Breakout, Conference Day 2

3:05pm MDT

Hidden in Plain Sight: Changing Perspective to See What You’re Missing

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT

Denver

Limited Capacity seats available

What if the early warning signs of an unwanted event were always there and we’re the reason they go unnoticed?
In the animal kingdom, survival often depends on the ability to change perspective. A chameleon doesn’t just blend into its environment, it actively adjusts how it sees, focuses, and responds to changing conditions. In our workplaces, however, familiarity can dull perception. Over time, “routine work” becomes unnoticed, allowing risks and opportunities alike to hide in plain sight.

This engaging, interactive session invites participants from all roles to deliberately shift how they observe normal work, the everyday routines, adaptations, and decisions that keep operations running. Grounded in Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) principles, the session moves beyond incident-driven learning to explore how we can learn from successful work.

Participants will leave with eight practical strategies to sharpen observation skills, helping them notice subtle changes, hidden hazards, and system signals that are often overlooked. These tools can be applied immediately to strengthen learning, improve communication across roles, and turn everyday work experiences into meaningful, proactive improvements - no matter where you work or what you do.

Conference Presenters

Susan Blackburn

HOP Advisor, Oak Ridge National Laboratory - UT-Battelle

Susan Blackburn, STS-C is a safety and health professional with more than 35 years of experience spanning nuclear power operations, OSHA, safety and health management, and Human and Organizational Performance (HOP). Throughout her career, she has led multiple high-impact safety initiatives... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT
Denver IM PEI Tower Mezzanine Level

Breakout, Conference Day 2

3:05pm MDT

Mining for Gold: Learning from Close Calls

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT

Century

Limited Capacity seats available

If you only learn from accidents, you’re already too late.

Every day, people prevent harm by noticing something feels off, speaking up, or changing the plan at the last second. These moments—close calls—are rich with insight, yet they often vanish without a trace. Close Call Mining is the deliberate practice of finding and learning from those moments before luck runs out.

This talk challenges the belief that “nothing happened” means “nothing to learn.” You’ll learn how to surface close call stories that matter, support workers in recognizing early warning signs, and ask better questions that reveal risk while there’s still time to act.

Because the most powerful learning happens before someone gets hurt.

Conference Presenters

Beth Lay

Director Consulting Solutions, Forge Works

Beth has spent over a decade applying Resilience Engineering, Safety-II, and Human & Organizational Performance (HOP) across diverse roles and now serves as President of the Resilience Engineering Association and Director of Consulting Solutions at Forge Works. Her passion is helping... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT
Century IM PEI Tower Mezzanine Level

Breakout, Conference Day 2

3:05pm MDT

Nine Practical Ways to Build Resilience in Technical Teams

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT

Tower Court A

Limited Capacity seats available

High Reliability Organizations (HROs) all share one unique trait. They're Resilient. Simply put, "The hallmark of an HRO is not that it is error-free, but that errors do not disable it." So HOW do they do this? Join us in this fast-paced presentation to explore the basics of nine (9) practical methods used by: paratroopers, firefighters, pilots, nurses and other experts in high-hazard industries. Examples include: embedding fail-safes, compartmentalizing to prevent cascades, using 4-layer decision-making, and watching for "weak signals." -- Includes summary PDF handout.

For more details, see, Chapter 7 "Build Resilience" in my new book:
https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Practical-Steps-Reliability-Technical/dp/B0FP99Z41N

Conference Presenters

Jake Mazulewicz

Director, JMA Human Reliability Strategies, LLC

I show technical experts practical ways to prevent dangerous and expensive errors. The skills I teach draw from Human & Organizational Performance (HOP), High-Reliability Organizations (HRO), from my 10 years experience in electric utilities, and from my hands-on service as a firefighter... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT
Tower Court A IM PEI Tower Second Floor Level

Breakout, Conference Day 2

global Y

3:05pm MDT

The Art and Science of Decision Making

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT

Gold

Limited Capacity seats available

The Art and Science of Decision-Making; The attention on our team members and their decisions seems to be greater today than in many years past. The demand to make “the right” decision is the loud voice right now and yet is tragically misguided in so many ways. Human interactions under stress will never yield a perfect right or wrong outcome. Trainers, leaders, attorneys and all involved in the process of preparing and evaluating events need to understand what actually takes place and contributes to decisions under stress. This session will break apart the science we know today on decision making and how working the “art” of assisting that process may eventually lead to more ideal outcomes where possible. We will frame this discussion from the lens of the police world but relate it to any of our industries where there are real stakes whether they are financial, product or people.

Conference Presenters

Liam Duggan

Chief of Police, Prior Lake Police Dept (MN) and LDC3, LLC

Liam Duggan’s career began in 1997 and he has worked in both suburban
and large city jurisdictions. He has served in leadership roles for
investigations, patrol, vice/narcotics, SWAT and training. Liam has a
BS in Law Enforcement, a graduate degree in Human Factors and Systems
Sa

... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT
Gold IM PEI Tower Mezzanine Level

Breakout, Conference Day 2

global Y

3:05pm MDT

Part I Designing Data Platforms That Drive Reliable and Resilient Clinical Performance

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT

Silver

Limited Capacity seats available

Description.
The availability of data to frontline managers in an organization has the potential to be a powerful way to improve performance of clinical teams. Often, data platforms provide aggregated data that allows senior leaders to monitor (and fret about) the status of a problem. Our prior platforms did not prioritize the day-to-day and week-to-week needs of our frontline leaders in managing the performance in their clinical area. We developed a data platform specifically designed to support the work of frontline clinical managers in improving the reliability and resilience of the delivery of care of evidence-based bundle elements. Displayed data elements are actionable and clearly communicate current system conditions at the local level. 7-day rolling bundle compliance is clearly displayed in order to create a rapid-cycle feedback loop for teams and allow early detection of a change in performance.
Clinical outcome data is displayed using run charts to denote performance over time, as these are easier for frontline leaders to interpret when compared to more traditional process control charts. The design is simple and uniform across all hospital-acquired conditions (HACs). Performance data are aggregated to communicate broader organizational performance to the executive team in a simple display that communicates current performance and highlights ongoing challenges. We also made the platform available to all team members as a large interactive display to generate engagement with the data and foster a commitment to data transparency across the organization.
We have seen dramatic improvements in compliance with evidence-based bundles and reductions in hospital-acquired conditions since the data platform was deployed 18 months ago. The data platform operationalizes multiple principles of resilience engineering and joint cognitive system design.

Three key takeaways / learning objectives

Designing a platform that prioritizes and supports the work of frontline clinical managers effectively is an important means of driving broad improvement across a large organization.
Displaying data by clinical unit in a way that is transparent leverages the pride that people take in the areas in which they work to drive and manage local performance.
The integration of rapid feedback loops (7-day rolling data) supports local learning and allows teams to rapidly detect and respond to drift in performance. Moving from statistical process control displays to 12-month rolling outcome data allows progress to be easily communicated rapidly across the organization.

Measurable results
We have seen dramatic increases in local compliance with evidence-based bundles and reductions in hospital-acquired conditions in the 18-months since the platform was deployed. Our 12-month rolling HAC rates are currently amongst the lowest since they began to be tracked in the organization, despite record-setting clinical volumes. We would be happy to share performance data during the presentation.

Conference Presenters

Gina Whitney, M.D.

Medical Director of Patient Safety, Children's Hospital Colorado

Gina Whitney is a cardiac anesthesiologist and the Medical Director of Patient Safety at Children's Hospital Colorado. In her clinical practice as a cardiac intensivist and anesthesiologist she became fascinated (obsessed?) by the way in which our systems of care drive clinical... Read More →

Kyle O. Rove

Medical Director of Surgical Quality and Safety, Children’s Hospital Colorado

Kyle Rove currently serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Urology, at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, with clinical responsibilities at Children’s Hospital Colorado. His clinical and research efforts focus on Pediatric Urology... Read More →

Miriam Conant

Director of Patient Safety, Children's Hospital Colorado

Miriam Conant, RN, MSN, CPN, NEA-BC is the Director of Patient Safety at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, Colorado with oversight of system harm prevention programing including hospital acquired conditions, incident reporting, event learning, and patient safety risk mitigation... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT
Silver IM PEI Tower Mezzanine Level

Double Breakout, Conference Day 2

global Y

3:05pm MDT

Part I From HOP to How: Thinking Like a Designer to Improve Everyday Work

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT

Tower Court B

Limited Capacity seats available

HOP gives us the aspiration: build a culture of learning from everyday work, where participation is an invitation, and improvements focus on system conditions rather than blame. This session guides the “How” by applying the practice of design thinking as a skill set to uncover real work and design safer, more reliable operations.
Participants will practice using an empathy-based approach to understand constraints, adaptations, and tradeoffs, and translate what they learn into clearly framed improvement opportunities. Teams will then prototype a “safe-to-try” change and define simple operational signals to evaluate whether it makes work easier, safer, and more consistent.
What participants will walk away with

Practical empathy-building tools for learning from normal work
A repeatable method to turn understanding into problem statements that bridge the knowing-doing gap
A lightweight prototype + test approach using operational signals

Conference Presenters

Ben Goodheart

Founder & Principal Consultant, Magpie Human Systems

Grant Simmons

Principal Consultant, TiER1 Performance

Grant Simmons is a Principal at TiER1 Performance, a transformation partner that helps organizations turn strategy into measurable behavior change through human-centered experience design. We work alongside leaders and teams to build practical solutions that improve adoption, performance... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT
Tower Court B IM PEI Tower Second Floor Level

Double Breakout, Conference Day 2

3:05pm MDT

Part I Taking Your Leaders There

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT

Windows

Limited Capacity seats available

We all know that leaders are the key to success for any deployment of improvement activities, but how do you make sure they get there and stay there? Rob will share lessons learned from over 400 deployments of HOP, Human Factors, Operational Excellence, and other improvement activities. Learn what leaders need to know, say, and do to make the improvements effective, sustainable, and profitable. Learn how to manage the information that leaders need, how they get that information, and how to make sure it works.

Conference Presenters

Rob Fisher

President, Fisher Improvement Technologies

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:05pm - 3:55pm MDT
Windows IM PEI Tower Second Floor Level

Double Breakout, Conference Day 2

3:55pm MDT

Break- 15 minutes

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:55pm - 4:10pm MDT

Grand Ballroom Foyer

Tuesday June 23, 2026 3:55pm - 4:10pm MDT
Grand Ballroom Foyer IM PEI Tower Second Floor Level

Break, Conference Day 2

4:10pm MDT

Beyond Compliance - Turning Learning into Leadership

FILLING

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT

Gold

Limited Capacity filling up

Traditional occupational health systems often emphasize compliance, reactive metrics, and error prevention. This session will explore the adoption and integration of Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) operational learning tools like: Proactive Reporting, Leadership Walk & Talks and Learning Teams to drive organizational culture and operational excellence. Attendees will gain new insights into practical strategies for piloting these tools across diverse organizational settings to open proactive mindsets around safety performance, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement.

Conference Presenters

Kirk Smith

Principal, Environmental, Health and Safety, Alkermes

Kirk started his EHS career in the U.S. Coast Guard on an ice breaking ship on Lake Michigan and has spent the last 20 plus years in a variety of EHS leadership roles in six different industries and four multi-national organizations. Beginning as a Lab Pack Chemist with an environmental... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT
Gold IM PEI Tower Mezzanine Level

Breakout, Conference Day 2

global Y

4:10pm MDT

Enhancing Risk Mitigation: A Recurrence Scoring Framework for Action Plans

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT

Tower Court A

Limited Capacity seats available

Introduction to Recurrence Scoring

Objective: To introduce a standardized, dynamic recurrence scoring system for action plans, designed to improve risk assessment and management. This system aims to provide a clear, quantifiable measure of residual risk based on the effectiveness of implemented corrective and preventative actions.

Key Concepts:
I.   Initial Recurrence Score: A baseline risk value tied to the significance of an issue.
a.   Definition: The initial recurrence score reflects the inherent risk level of an issue before any mitigating actions are taken. It is directly linked to the Significance Level (SL) assigned to an issue.
II.   Residual Recurrence Score: A quantifiable measure of remaining risk after the implementation of preventative actions. This score is dynamic and reflects the impact of actions over time.
a.   Applicability: The residual score applies only to issues where a cause analysis has been conducted and preventative actions are subsequently identified. Issues with only trend codes will not have a residual recurrence score.
III.   Preventative Actions: The focus of this scoring mechanism, aiming to prevent reoccurrence.
a.   Action Score Definition: The score assigned to an action should be a percentage of the initial recurrence score. For each action, the default score will be the lower end of its category's range. The Issue Owner will have a slider to adjust this action-specific score within the defined range for its category.

Conclusion
This recurrence scoring framework provides a robust and transparent method for assessing and managing recurring risks. By quantifying risk, allowing for expert modification, and visually representing progress, it will significantly enhance decision-making and accountability within action plan management.

Conference Presenters

Meredith Long

Quality Assurance Engineer, PXD Pantex

With 10 years of experience at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, TX, Meredith has cultivated an ever-growing skill set and experience across numerous disciplines. She has earned certificates for causal analysis and HPI/HOP. She is currently the HPI lead for Issues Management, and is... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT
Tower Court A IM PEI Tower Second Floor Level

Breakout, Conference Day 2

global Y

4:10pm MDT

Leveraging Power BI as a Translator for Resiliency

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT

Denver

Limited Capacity seats available

We know that Organizations are “data-driven,” yet safety and HOP are frequently reduced to lagging indicators or fragmented sets of leading metrics that struggle to influence real decisions.

This is where Microsoft Power BI can serve as a powerful translator.

Power BI (Business Intelligence) enables safety and HOP practitioners to integrate large volumes of disconnected, messy data and transform them into meaningful information that supports leadership decision-making. When the language of leadership is data, Power BI helps translate the realities of work into insights leaders can see, explore, and act upon. This helps us escape the over simplified binary world of red and green indicators.

In this session, participants will explore how Power BI can be used to visualize and connect key HOP concepts, including rapidly degrading margins, SIF conditions, system drift, variability from plan (work-as-done vs. work-as-imagined), learning signals, and energy control effectiveness. Many organizations already collect the data needed to support this kind of analysis; the challenge is making it visible and useful.

Attendees will be introduced to practical learning pathways for Power BI, examples of AI-assisted development, and prototype data models (star schemas) specifically designed to support HOP and safety sensemaking. The session will focus on connecting and visualizing information that you already have to improve forecasting and decision quality.

Conference Presenters

Jon Schmidt

Safety & Human Performance Consultant, ATC

I bring leading-edge, interdisciplinary safety strategies to life within the industries of biotechnology, arboriculture and utility vegetation management. By facilitating learning teams and applying other impactful ways to learn from everyday work, I help uncover latent conditions... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT
Denver IM PEI Tower Mezzanine Level

Breakout, Conference Day 2

4:10pm MDT

Safety Initiatives: Linking 12 Different Safety Ideas, Initiatives, Mindsets, and Movements Together with HOP to Create “My Safety Culture”.

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT

Spruce

Limited Capacity seats available

When it comes to Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) and those initiatives and programs built around it, the problem is that there are many competing ideas, and most people think it’s got to be one or the other.
This often leads to “new program” fatigue and disillusionment, which greatly undermines a Safety Professional’s influence.
I intend to demonstrate how I have methodically built a thriving Human and Organizational (HOP) safety culture into one of the most difficult industries for such a thing, The Utility Line Clearance industry.
I will lay out how I linked ten existing and newly created safety initiatives / pillars to beat the new program fatigue and disillusionment.
We will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each of the initiatives and how to reinforce the weakness and get maximum leverage from the strengths.
When it comes to the ideas of differing approaches, I say - if it works, it works.

Conference Presenters

JAMES BEERY

SR. SAFETY LEAD, WIGHT TREE SERVICE

30+ Years of professional safety experience. 6 Years of Arboriculture experience.ISA Certified Arborist #WE-14250A
ISA Certified Arborist Utility Specialist #WE-14250AU
Certified Safety Professional CSP-#35316
Canadian Registered Safety Professional - #BCRSP-20643
Certified Tree

... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT
Spruce IM PEI Tower Mezzanine Level

Breakout, Conference Day 2

global Y

4:10pm MDT

Using AI to Learn from Normal Work at scale

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT

Century

Limited Capacity seats available

Understanding normal work is essential for advancing safety performance and operational excellence. In 2023, our organization launched the Useful Questions Program, designed to foster richer, more meaningful conversations before, during and after work execution. This effort led to the development of the Useful Questions Pocket Card in October 2023, providing frontline teams with quick, accessible prompts to encourage reflection, learning, and proactive risk awareness.
The Useful Questions program spread organically across worksites and management forums, teams adapted and refined the questions to fit their specific operational contexts, demonstrating the initiative’s flexibility, value, and cultural resonance. Building on its success, these questions were later embedded directly into our HSSEQ reporting card, enabling systematic capture of practical insights from everyday work.
We are now entering the next phase by leveraging artificial intelligence to analyze the growing body of collected insights. In collaboration with Google, we are developing AI-driven capabilities to identify trends, highlight recurring themes, and uncover latent signals from normal work. This integration will enable learning at a scale previously unattainable, strengthening our ability to anticipate emerging risks, support frontline teams, and continuously improve safety and operational resilience.
This presentation explores the program’s evolution, its impact on learning from normal work, and how AI-driven analytics will transform the way we understand and support the work that people do every day.

Conference Presenters

John Evans

Group Health & Safety Technical Manager, Subsea 7 (US) LLC

With over 20 years in health and safety, I currently lead Subsea7’s global safety management systems and supporting IT infrastructure. My journey began in maritime logistics, transitioning into safety at a fabrication yard in Alabama before moving to Houston. Since 2018, I’ve... Read More →

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT
Century IM PEI Tower Mezzanine Level

Breakout, Conference Day 2

global Y

4:10pm MDT

Part II Designing Data Platforms That Drive Reliable and Resilient Clinical Performance

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT

Silver

Limited Capacity seats available

Designing a platform that prioritizes and supports the work of frontline clinical managers effectively is an important means of driving broad improvement across a large organization.
Displaying data by clinical unit in a way that is transparent leverages the pride that people take in the areas in which they work to drive and manage local performance.
The integration of rapid feedback loops (7-day rolling data) supports local learning and allows teams to rapidly detect and respond to drift in performance. Moving from statistical process control displays to 12-month rolling outcome data allows progress to be easily communicated rapidly across the organization.

Conference Presenters

Miriam Conant

Director of Patient Safety, Children's Hospital Colorado

Gina Whitney, M.D.

Medical Director of Patient Safety, Children's Hospital Colorado

Kyle O. Rove

Medical Director of Surgical Quality and Safety, Children’s Hospital Colorado

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT
Silver IM PEI Tower Mezzanine Level

Double Breakout, Conference Day 2

4:10pm MDT

Part II From HOP to How: Thinking Like a Designer to Improve Everyday Work

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT

Tower Court B

Limited Capacity seats available

Practical empathy-building tools for learning from normal work
A repeatable method to turn understanding into problem statements that bridge the knowing-doing gap
A lightweight prototype + test approach using operational signals

Conference Presenters

Ben Goodheart

Founder & Principal Consultant, Magpie Human Systems

Grant Simmons

Principal Consultant, TiER1 Performance

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT
Tower Court B IM PEI Tower Second Floor Level

Double Breakout, Conference Day 2

4:10pm MDT

Part II Taking Your Leaders There

LIMITED

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT

Windows

Limited Capacity seats available

Conference Presenters

Rob Fisher

President, Fisher Improvement Technologies

Tuesday June 23, 2026 4:10pm - 5:00pm MDT
Windows IM PEI Tower Second Floor Level

Double Breakout, Conference Day 2

6:00pm MDT

Tuesday Evening Reception & CHOLearning Award Show

Tuesday June 23, 2026 6:00pm - 9:00pm MDT

Parlur

You're invited to our Tuesday Evening Reception & CHOLearning Award Show! Network, have fun, and celebrate the individuals shaping the future of organizational learning. We will announce our 3rd Hall of Fame Class.

Tuesday June 23, 2026 6:00pm - 9:00pm MDT
Parlur

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