Leading Through Excellence: What Are Past Attendees Saying?

This is our first year hosting our annual Leading Through Excellence summit virtually, but we've spent years perfecting the multi-day learning session that happens every April. We'll miss the lunches, VIP reception, and in-person networking -- but we're excited to offer the myriad of benefits that come along with hosting a virtual event. Below are testimonials from attendees who have attended Leading Through Excellence in the past. While this year will certainly be different, many of the sentiments they expressed will remain part of #LTE21. So, what are past attendees saying?

I've been coming to Ohio State and to the COE forums for probably about 12 years, when I was a black belt. And over the years I've transitioned to a number of different roles at Cardinal Health, and I found an extraordinary amount of value in all of the forums that I've gone to. I'm pretty certain that I went to the very first summit with the COE, and I really fell in love with the different variety of topics that were available for the breakout sessions as well as the keynote sessions.

-- Charlotte Click, Manager, Leadership & Professional Development, Cardinal Health

Words can't explain how good [of] an event it is. If I were to describe it, I'd say it's a buffet of information -- whether it's lean leadership or any other kind. You just have a table of events to pick and choose from, and then go back for seconds for what pleases your palate and may enhance you as a person, and also your company that you're there representing. The networking that you experience with other companies similar and or different at the other end of the spectrum from your own. You can't put a price on that, honestly. So, wholeheartedly, I encourage anyone that has the opportunity that has that privilege to attend to go ahead and take it well worth the money [and] well worth the time...

-- Gio Bernardo, U.S. Continuous Improvement Manager, Agrana Fruit 

I've been going the last four years, and I think it's been a really good opportunity to do multiple things. One is to network to really see what other people in other industries are doing. I'm from manufacturing but being able to see how, in our business, we can utilize what we learn in accounting, in quality, in our daily service industry and in our sales team, it's really been very important for us to learn that. In my position, I can then bring in other people that can also learn to help all parts of the business do better. And so, I think that the most important thing is getting people here that can bring that different viewpoint, the different kind of ideas that we wouldn't expect to see. I think the speakers are great; I think they've been awesome. I've loved every one of them that we've had the last four or five years since I've been going... But I’ll also tell you that the breakout sessions have been phenomenal, and it is so important to learn from those people from different industries.

-- Rob Radabaugh, Director of Manufacturing Quality, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company

Our team is usually dispersed, sometimes geographically around the country and sometimes just on different floors or in different buildings around our company; And so, we don't have a lot of time to get together and really talk and strategize and think as a group. We've been [attending the summit] for probably four or five years in a row now, bringing the entire team to the summit every year. The summit gives the team a lot of fresh ideas; [it's] sort of a refresher for energy and kickstarts for the work we're planning on doing. The summit is an opportunity to really get together and hear those fresh ideas as a group, and then we usually take advantage of a [debrief] room on the last day to get together as a group and really debrief and process what we heard. And then [discuss what] specific actions that we're going to go out and start piloting from new ideas that we got from the summit. It's been really beneficial for us.

-- Tom Reither, Associate Vice President, Operational Excellence, Nationwide Insurance

Ohio Mutual Insurance Group has been a participant at the summit now for about four years... and each time that we have gone, we have increased our number of attendees because from the experiences that I've had going to other conferences about continuous improvement and lean, I feel like the summit is the best opportunity here. The Summit offers upcoming topics in leadership and reinforces topics about coaching and learning about the tools. I feel like this is the best opportunity for our company to attend something that's high quality, and they're going to get a lot out of it. And fortunately it's right in our backyard. So, from a cost standpoint, it's the best bang for your buck and  investment in your company.

-- Bethany Foy, Continuous Improvement Leader, Ohio Mutual Insurance Group

We have been sending teams to the summit for several years, since the very first year the summit began. The biggest value we get besides the learning ,which is obviously fantastic, is the collaboration, the networking, and the benchmarking that we get through talking and sitting in the sessions. We meet so many different companies, and not just the member companies, but also companies that come in from outside the network.

-- Amy Tomaszewski, Assistant Vice President, Operational Excellence, Grange Insurance

For more information about Leading Through Excellence 2021, view our official website to find details on speakers, agenda, pricing, and more. On the fence about attending a virtual conference? Check out the top 5 reasons to attend a virtual summit. Questions? Please contact Cheyanne Cierpial at cierpial.1@osu.edu.