Ken Segel

Ken Segel Value Capture New

Ken Segel

Co-Founder, Chief Relationship Officer & Executive Coach

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

For more than two decades, Ken Segel has helped shape Value Capture’s DNA. Today, as Chief Relationship Officer, he cultivates executive partnerships, guides the firm’s growth and marketing strategy, and coaches leaders who refuse to settle for average, because they believe world-class safety, quality, and financial performance can (and must) co-exist.

Ken is a sought-after thought leader on high-performance healthcare and hosts the Habitual Excellence podcast, where he invites innovators to share how they push beyond incremental gains followed by regressions to systemic, sustainable results.

“Great care isn’t a project; it’s a habit, one that starts with safety and radiates to every dimension of performance.”

From one-on-one counsel to keynote stages, Ken challenges and helps organizations see how to align purpose, principles, and practice until zero harm becomes the norm.

Ken’s Leadership at Value Capture:

  • Chief Relationship Officer & Executive Coach (March 2025–present):  Oversees executive relationships, growth, and marketing while serving as top of the “help chain” for business development.
  • Chief Executive Officer (2014–2025): Led the firm for 11 years, steering strategy and client impact as Value Capture expanded nationally.
  • Co-Founder (2005): Helped launch the company with a mission to make perfect care and safety possible, everywhere.

Ken’s Prior Impact & Public-Service Roots include:

  • Founding Director, Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative (PRHI) : Achieved nation-leading regional results in eliminating several classes of patient risk.
  • Senior Program Officer, Jewish Healthcare Foundation: Guided community-wide health-improvement initiatives and launched the Foundation’s public-policy program.
  • Early Career in Public Policy: From the U.S. House leadership team to the 1992 Clinton-Gore “War Room,” Ken cut his teeth on high-stakes strategy, later serving as policy director and speechwriter for the Democratic Party and teaching political organizing in Ukraine and Russia.

Ken’s North Star is simple but relentless: help leaders build systems that honor human values and deliver habitual excellence. Every time he steps into a hospital and sees staff weighed down by broken processes, or witnesses the relief when those processes are fixed, he’s reminded why the work matters.

“When healthcare teams reclaim pride, patients reclaim trust. That’s the power of aligning purpose with principled leadership—and it’s why we get up every morning.”

Education 

B.A., Harvard University, American History and Literature

M.B.A., University of Pittsburgh

Certifications

 
Shingo certified facilitator, all courses

Contact Info

412.445.0024
ksegel@valuecapturellc.com


Thought Leadership

Blog Posts:

How "Lean" Healthcare Organizations Should Adjust to Massively Outperform (CLEAR Symposium Keynote, Part 1)

Ownership, Simplicity, and Clarity (CLEAR Symposium Keynote, Part 2)

Now, How Do We Do It? (CLEAR Symposium, Part 3)

The Way Leaders React Makes a Difference: An Excerpt from "The Mistakes That Make Us"

Closing Gaps Within and Without: A Leader's Reflection on Assumption, Fear, and Taking Action, Habitually

Is "Pancake Syrup" an Answer to American Healthcare's Woes, from Safety to the Cost Crisis?

How to Define Your Leadership Legacy: Free Lessons from Southwest Airlines and the New York Times

Solve Your Biggest Problem NOW: Resisting Amnesia to Get Results and Change the Future 

4 Actions to Reduce Medical Errors in U.S. Hospitals - The Story Behind the Article

A National Patient Safety Board - A Key to Fix the National Healthcare Strategy to Healthcare Safety

Life and Death and Leadership: Safety in Seconds and Centuries

Ken Segel Reflects on Paul O'Neill's Safety and Leadership Principles

It's Everyone's Job to Demonstrate What Excellence Looks Like

Health Care Workers Protect Us. It’s Time to Protect Them.

See All Posts by Ken Segel

Webinars:

Strategies for Reducing Length of Stay in Hospital Settings: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Getting to Zero Harm for Patients and Staff with DEIA and Psychological Safety Concepts

Why Does the U.S. Need a National Patient Safety Board?

Seizing the Healthcare Safety Opportunity: Using the "Playbook" of Paul O'Neill

Habitual Excellence Starts with Safety: Before, During and After a Crisis

Podcast Episodes:

Habitual Excellence Episode #2: Ken Segel on Leadership in the Covid-19 Era

Habitual Excellence Episode #4: Ken Segel on Zero Harm and Theoretical Limits

Videos:

 

 

More Videos with Ken Segel