Our story
Acuity Institute is a global leader in Operational Excellence training. Founded in 2005, Acuity has built an excellent reputation for providing its customers with effective Operational Excellence training, coaching, and consulting solutions designed to the highest standard of expertise. As leading experts in Lean Six Sigma, Lean, Change Management, and Project Leadership, we have developed relationships with thousands of individuals and organizations across a wide variety of industries in over 130 countries. Acuity has helped our clients uncover hundreds of millions of dollars in added value by optimizing the effectiveness and efficiency of their teams, processes, products, and services.
In 2021, Acuity was acquired by MindEdge Learning. MindEdge was founded by Harvard and MIT educators in 1998, and is at the forefront of online content development for adult learners across industry and academia. It’s expansive professional development content catalog spans 36 categories and has allowed Acuity to deepen its offerings to corporate training clients and individual learners alike.
Meet our team
Managing Director, MBB
Operational Excellence Exper
Stephanie has served at Acuity Institute since 2009. She has over 20 years of expertise in customer service and has established a superior team of specialists that offer the industry’s finest level of customer support to Acuity’s corporate clients and students around the world.
Stephanie has over 10 years of Lean Six Sigma experience and is a Master Black Belt facilitator and project coach. She has served as the Account Relationship Manager for many of Acuity Institute’s largest clients across a variety of industries. She also serves as an internal Lean Six Sigma Black Belt for Acuity Institute. To meet the demands of the growing and diverse student population, Stephanie designed, developed and implemented Acuity Institute’s customer service model and helpdesk, leveraging technology and processes to support a broad audience of students from over 95 countries world-wide. She also directed the launch of Acuity’s Global Campus, aligning world-class courses with a superior level of service and support model. She has maintained Acuity’s accreditations and established education partnerships with the Project Management Institute (PMI) and Association for Change Management Professionals (ACMP). Her leadership has established Acuity Institute as a true leader in global learning.
She has managed numerous deployments for many complex Business Performance Improvement initiatives. Stephanie’s clients have included several Fortune 500 companies, Non-Profit corporations and public-entity corporations such as the Metro Transit Authority of New York. The initiative have include programs such as Lean Professional Virtual Blended Training and Cohort Coaching for 144 participants, and over 70 lean projects.
Stephanie has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and is a Change Management Professional. She has also completed the Disney Institute’s Quality Service Program. Stephanie lives in Colorado with her husband and three children.
Director of Corporate Solutions
Courtney O’Brien is the Director of Corporate Solutions for Acuity Institute, leading our Business Development efforts and identifying Corporate Solutions for our clients. She has over 20 years of experience in leading and supporting businesses in their development of sales and client relationships.
Courtney’s work history includes industry-leading companies and organizations varying in diverse services and programming. Her ability to build and strengthen relationships focused on fundraising and sales have contributed greatly to the growth of every company and organization’s net sales, programs, services, and customer satisfaction.
Courtney is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Beyond her education and experience, Courtney is devoted to her family and has a passion for relationship building and community engagement.
Director of Business Development
Elizabeth is Acuity Institute’s Director of Business Development. She prides herself on unwavering passion for customer success, satisfaction, and professional development. Elizabeth oversees the account development and relationship manager for the Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Food & Beverage, Hospitality, Retail, Education, and Non-Profit industries. She has several years of experience managing sales/partnerships, is a true entrepreneur at heart, and has a passion for the foster care community.
When not working for Acuity Institute, Elizabeth enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, boating, and investing in real estate.
Sales Operations and Support Manager
Brianna serves Acuity Institute as the Services and Support Manager. She uses her exceptional set of interpersonal skills to support Acuity’s students. She assists students in getting started with their training, addresses any questions they may have while completing their courses as well as certification and exam administration. Brianna also supports Acuity Institute’s Sales and Development teams, manages Social Media, and is responsible for the development of the electronic and printed materials for courses.
Brianna is a graduate of Metropolitan State University of Denver and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with a minor in Dance. When not working for Acuity, she enjoys attending Theatrical Productions, auditioning for and performing in shows, and traveling with friends and family.
Customer Solutions Manager
Jaime is Acuity Institute’s Customer Solutions Manager. She has the pleasure of working with individual students across the world in providing them with detailed information regarding Acuity Institute’s training courses as well as assisting with their enrollment. Jaime has an extensive background in continuing education with over 20yrs of customer service and enjoys assisting students with their goals. Jaime also supports Acuity’s website chat program, is the friendly voice on the other end of the phone and manages several behind the scenes programs and reporting.
When not working with Acuity Institute, Jaime enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, hiking and being outdoors with their dog.
Corporate Solutions
Stephen serves Acuity Institute as a member of the Corporate Solutions team. He has the pleasure of assisting businesses with finding the best training that aligns with their goals. Stephen uses his extensive background in customer service to ensure that his clients’ needs are always met. Stephen is a graduate of Providence College and received his M.B.A. from Southern New Hampshire University. When not working, he enjoys watching the Patriots, fishing, and spending time with friends and family.
Acuity Institute Senior Facilitator,
MBB, Operational Excellence Expert
Matt has over 20 years of experience in both private and public sectors directing, designing, and deploying transformational change strategies focused on strategic and operational change resulting in breakthrough organizational performance improvement. He has extensive experience working domestically and internationally as a leader, instructor, coach, project practitioner, consultant, engagement director, business owner and presenter at industry conferences. He has served organizations such as: GE Capital, Fidelity Investments, US Navy, IBM, BP, State Street Bank, ServiceMaster Inc, Bank of America, Caterpillar, PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, DuPont, Dow Chemical, Airgas On-Site Safety Services, LG Telecom, LG University, LG Investments, Cargill, Newmont Mining Company, Microsoft, University of Vermont, Best Buy, Air Canada, SKW Inc, Tech Data, and the University of Minnesota. Matt served 5 years as senior strategy and change consultant for the Office of the President at the University of Minnesota and on the Board of Directors for the National Consortium for Continuous Improvement in Higher Education (NCCI) from 2006-2010.
Matt also held leadership positions at General Electric, PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, and IBM Business Consulting Services. As an advisor to global corporate level executives and Engagement Director with PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting and IBM Business Consulting Services, Matt has extensive experience in the design and implementation of enterprise-wide continuous improvement strategies that drive customer focus and operational excellence across diverse businesses, countries, and cultures. He directed client’s simultaneous global enterprise-wide design and deployment of Lean Six Sigma strategy. This was delivered in six different languages, involved approximately 700 DMAIC Black Belts, 500 DMEDI Black and Green Belts, 60 Master Black Belts and respective teams. First 180 projects resulted in total estimated 5 year recurring savings to be greater than $40M annually. He has successfully trained, mentored and coached hundreds of Six Sigma Green Belts, Black Belts, Master Black Belts, Project Champions and Senior Corporate executives domestically & abroad. He has done this work in service and product environments within the public sector, Information Technology, telecommunications, higher education, healthcare, financial services, mining, home services, industrial products, chemical & petroleum, consulting, and banking industries across the entire organizational life cycle.
Matt served as a Minnesota state Malcolm Baldrige examiner to organizations within the legal, higher education, and investment banking industries. He holds a Bachelors’ degree in Individual and Organizational Communication and Change from the University of Minnesota, Mini MBA from University of St Thomas Graduate School, Innovation Studies Program graduate from the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota, received his Six Sigma Black Belt certification at General Electric, and his Six Sigma Master Black Belt certification at PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting. He was also nominated for IBM Business Consulting Services’ North American Strategy Consulting High Five Recognition program, which recognizes outstanding achievement in Strategy Consulting and profiled as an Innovator by Bloomberg Philanthropies of NY, NY in their publication for igniting Public-Sector Innovation.
MBB, Operational Excellence Expert
Lawrence Shaw is an experienced Master Black Belt and change agent with 27 years of cross-functional industry experience. He loves to “light the lamp” of passion for continuous improvement in others. Lawrence is an innovator, as evidenced by his creation of WINSHAW®, the cloud-based platform that helps teams and individuals facilitate the often challenging prioritization and decision-making process better, faster, and with more team input. Lawrence joined the Acuity Institute team of Master Black Belts in 2017.
Lawrence has experience both as a Operational Excellence consultant and coach and in leading Operational Excellence groups within the enterprise. He co-developed the process improvement program at SunTrust and was instrumental in leading similar programs at Acuity Brands and Home Depot. He has proven ability to start successful Operational Excellence programs from scratch, lead complex, global initiatives and deliver top-notch training and coaching to over 300 Yellow, Green and Black Belts. Lawrence has extensive experience working in a variety of organizations of all sizes and types, including AT&T, Emory University, Atrium Navicent Healthcare, Zaxby’s, Ritz-Carlton, Europartners, Open Road Films, and Driscoll’s Berries.
Lawrence is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and Communications from Syracuse University and has served as a facilitator at Emory University. He lives in Georgia with his wife and family.
Accreditations
Beyond our world class Operational Excellence solutions and expert staff, Acuity Institute is recognized as a qualified institution of higher education, which validates our commitment to the standards for educational quality. Acuity Institute holds a number of accreditations and approvals. What does it mean for our organization and for our students?
Click on the accreditation below to learn more.
