As you learn healthcare business principles through the Physician MBA Program, you also develop your executive presence and leadership capabilities.
Each student has unique goals, challenges, strengths and weaknesses related to leadership, and our program offers one-on-one leadership coaching to address these in a private environment for growth. Ours is the only program of its kind that offers leadership coaching to guide physician leaders in achieving their personal and professional goals. This coaching:
Provides ongoing, developmental career coaching for physician leaders throughout the program.
Helps physician leaders understand and apply skills gained from developmental coaching in practical, realistic, and useful ways within their unique organizational environments.
Enhances each physician’s leadership development with a highly individualized approach to growth and change.
Supports physicians in responding to career advancement opportunities with individualized preparation and strategic planning.
Executive coaches
Our executive career coaches for physicians are doctoral-level MBA holders, researchers, practitioners and published authors who specialize in physician leadership styles and needs. They provide workshops and one-on-one executive coaching in the Business of Medicine Physician MBA Program.
Including the executive coaching during his IU Kelley Physician MBA Program, Peter Nalin, MD, MBA'19, personally experienced four series of coaching engagements, and the impacts upon him have been transformative. With a coach, he gained more clarity of purpose, less conflicts, and better listening skills because of what he chose to improve with the assistance of his coach. Without a coach, he would likely still be stuck in the usual ways of thinking and responding. Now, he's living and working as a better version of himself. As a result of coaching, he is enjoying the ups and overcoming the downs of real life; he is stronger, clearer, and more satisfied than in any prior decade of his life.
Peter's leadership roles span 30 years in medical schools, community venues, and healthcare systems. Clinically, his leadership roles included CMO and interim CEO. Academically, his leadership roles included residency director, department chair, regional campus dean, and executive associate dean. As a coach, he completed his certification by the Hudson Institute of Coaching. Peter believes that when you're facing a challenge or opportunity, there's only so much you can accomplish from thinking on your own. Yet, engaging a coach can be transformational in your work and in your life. A coach is professionally prepared to help you navigate a transition, an improvement, a frustration, an aspiration, or anything that helps you grow from 'what is' to 'what's next.' Peter is enthusiastic about Kelley Physician MBA students' pursuit of personal and professional development and looks forward to coaching them.
Dr. Dana Ray is a board-certified family and addiction medicine physician, executive coach, and the founder of Proven Medical and Executive Coaching, a direct primary care clinic in central Illinois that focuses on a holistic approach to health and wellness. With wide-ranging experience as a physician leader, veteran, and parent, Dana helps clients gain clarity, confidence, and connection while dealing with personal and professional challenges.
She offers executive coaching through her clinic and the Kelley Physician MBA Program, supporting physicians in building meaningful, sustainable careers. Her coaching also extends to nonphysician C-suite leaders, helping them improve work-life balance and leadership skills. Drawing from her personal experiences as a chief medical officer, Army Reserve veteran, mother, and community advocate, Dana brings empathy and insight to her coaching relationships.
Her style encourages personal and professional harmony through active listening, thoughtful questions, and practical solutions. Clients appreciate her grounded presence, clear guidance, and ability to help them lead with purpose in all areas of life.
Jennifer Robin, PhD, brings a unique blend of skills and experiences to her coaching and consulting engagements. She is a psychologist, credentialed ICF and Co-Active coach, and an expert in leadership development, organizational culture, and strategic human resource management. Over 25 years ago, Jennifer was involved in launching one of the first MBA programs designed for physician leaders, working as part of the team that created its leadership development and coaching components at the University of Tennessee. Today, she is an affiliate faculty member and coach with Kelley's Physician MBA Program at Indiana University, continuing her impact in healthcare through its leaders.
As a senior consultant at Great Place to Work® Institute, Jennifer worked with senior leadership teams at several large healthcare organizations in California, Florida, Illinois, and Iowa. She has designed leadership development modules for healthcare organizations, advised major staff units such as Human Resources and Advancement, and worked with system-level leadership to create great workplace cultures. Both Scripps Healthcare and Mayo Clinic were featured in Jennifer’s books, No Excuses: How You Can Turn Any Workplace into a Great One (2013) and The Great Workplace: How to Build It, How to Keep It, and Why It Matters (2011).
Jennifer works with organizational leaders at all levels and in a broad range of industries. As a consultant, she advises senior leaders as they integrate their organization’s culture with its strategy and align efforts to be a great workplace. In her coaching practice, Jennifer guides leaders in career milestones (such as job searches, career changes, or transitioning into a new leadership role) and in providing a platform for leadership development in the context of one’s current role.
Jennifer has held the positions of professor of management and associate dean in the Foster College of Business at Bradley University, dean of the School of Business at Southern Connecticut State University, and senior consultant at Great Place to Work® Institute.
Over his 30-year career in leadership development, Charles (Chuck) Stoner has worked with a range of businesses to provide executive coaching for key leaders, from small organizations to Fortune 100 companies. Chuck has authored a dozen books and more than 50 refereed articles and papers. His book, Inspired Physician Leadership: Creating Impact and Influence, was published by the American Association of Physician Leadership in 2015. Chuck provides workshops and one-on-one executive coaching to the physician leaders in Kelley's Physician MBA Program.
Valerie is a training and development professional who uses coaching to assist others with self-awareness and skill development. Her coaching approach helps physician leaders self-reflect, understand relevant leadership approaches, and set goals that are practical given their unique organizational environment.
She has facilitated organizational learning and development and university courses, both virtual and in person, with audiences ranging from executives to undergraduate students. Her expertise includes organizational behavior, leadership, coaching, teamwork, skill building, organizational development, human resource management, risk management, strategic planning, and marketing.
Valerie has over 20 years of business experience, primarily at Baxter Healthcare Corporation and Kemper Insurance Companies. Valerie coached and facilitated Bradley’s Maximizing Leadership Potential program in partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership. Since 2021, she has served as an executive coach with the Kelley School’s Physician MBA Program and has facilitated leadership workshops.
She was a member of the faculty at Bradley University Foster College of Business for 20 years and incorporated individual coaching into her courses. Her scholarship of teaching and learning emphasis included teaching teamwork, using instructional technology to teach ethics, and the effect of learners’ emotional intelligence on teaching interpersonal skills. She was a member of Bradley's study abroad faculty and has attended, facilitated, or led programs in Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna, Berlin, and Prague.
Valerie holds a number of certifications including various instruments from the Center for Creative Leadership, Emotional Intelligence EQ-I 2.0/EQ-i 360, Influence Style Indicator, PerSight Development, Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), MarylandOnLine Inc., Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR), and Online Learning Consortium Institute (online discussion engagement). She received her MBA with a concentration in industrial relations and human resource management from University of Chicago's Booth Graduate School of Business. Her BA in Political Science was earned with honors at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Lana Wietholter is an experienced human resources executive with expertise in organizational effectiveness and process improvement. She has led numerous global C-suite transformation initiatives, influenced executives, and achieved increasing earnings per share business results in the global Fortune 500 company, Eli Lilly & Company and healthcare organizations across the United States. This experience provides her with the perspective not only of the aspiring professional’s goals but of the decision makers’ assessments and processes of talent, succession, staffing, and development. Her experiences include leading the new design of career ladders, leadership profiles for the future, job structure, compensation, governance, training and development, and organization structure for a global organization of over 38,000 employees with individualized, tailored executive messages. She has worked directly with executives and professionals from scientific research, medical, marketing, sales, information technology, legal, finance, corporate affairs, compliance, and human resources.
Her passions are two-fold: collaborating with talented professionals as they pursue their ever-evolving purpose and improving overall organizational and process performance to make a meaningful difference. It’s no surprise you will find she has a practical approach to both and a proven track record of success. Lana is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt/Sponsor/Champion and is an associate faculty in Kelley's Physician MBA Program. She teaches the Business Process Improvement for Healthcare Executives course, which she authored to enable physicians to deliver credible, real-world results. Physician alumni of this course have made a significant difference in patient and staff experience demonstrated by greatly improved customer satisfaction results, reduced time and waste by eliminating non-value-added steps, significantly improved accuracy, and generated revenue/reduced costs. Each earned a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certificate as well. She is an industrial engineer from Purdue University, became certified in Hogan assessment, tailored and delivered GAPS (Goals, Abilities, Perceptions and Standards), built competency models and assessments, designed and facilitated leader-led team experiences with proven results and continues to mentor countless professionals to achieve their next level.
Lana resides in Zionsville with her husband, Garrett. They enjoy spending time with their family, friends, horses and golden retrievers. She appreciates photographing incredible moments in time and stunning sunsets.
“My executive coaching experience was life changing. My coach helped me develop better emotional intelligence as a leader. She was my biggest supporter in leading change and managing people, and it was a very safe place to discuss strategy and determine how to incorporate my values into my daily work. These are things nobody tells you outside of a coaching setting.”
Gagan Pawar, MD, MBA’22CEO of Clinicas del Camino Real, Inc
Take the first step toward joining our community of physician leaders
If you believe better patient care and outcomes depend on physician leadership, your future is at the Kelley School of Business.
