Kathy Oswald

Kathy Oswald is a results-oriented, highly accomplished executive with strong strategic and business planning, merger and acquisition, change management, succession planning, executive compensation and corporate governance experience.  Her career spans a variety of industries including manufacturing, global automotive, healthcare, information technology staffing and services, and organizational consulting; and she has worked in both for-profit and not-for profit sectors.  

Kathy Oswald began her career as a secretary at the Chrysler Corporation in 1972.  During her 28 years with Chrysler, she grew to become Chrysler’s top female executive before retiring in 2000.  At the time of her retirement, Kathy was DaimlerChrysler’s Chief Administrative Officer responsible for Human Resources, Labor Relations, Community Relations, Public Relations and Communications.

Following her career at Chrysler, Kathy joined Right Management as President, Great Lakes Region.  While at Right she was responsible for all operations of their offices in the Great Lakes region including Southfield, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Toledo.  Her key roles included leading their Organizational Consulting, Key Executive and Business Development activities, as well as growing their customer base.  During her tenure at Right Great Lakes she led them to year-after-year records for growth and profit.

In July 2008, Kathy joined Henry Ford Health System as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. In this position she was responsible for all aspects of Human Resources for over 30,000 employees and over 1,200 employed physicians; including succession planning, leadership and physician development, performance management, talent selection, credentialing, employee/physician engagement; compensation, pensions, benefits, health engagement, employee safety; diversity, security and employee relations.

Kathy is currently CEO of a newly formed company, Center for Physician Leadership Excellence focusing on building leadership development solutions for physicians including launching a physician leadership simulated assessment tool.

Kathy’s board experience includes for profit (both public and private) and a wide variety of non-profit.  Kathy recently joined the board of ASchulman, an international supplier of high-performance plastic formulations, resins and services.  She also currently serves on the board of H2O Energy, Great Lakes Center for the Arts, the Michigan Autism Alliance, and the American Society of Employers.  Previous board experiences include:  Mercy Health Services, Imetris, Inforum, Michigan Virtual University, Marygrove College, southeast Michigan Heart Association, Junior Achievement of Southeast Michigan, Inforum Center for Leadership, and the Automotive Women’s Advisory Board.