Principals

Dr. Robert E. Simpson, Jr., President

Dr. Simpson is a seasoned professional, executive and consultant who has served in a variety of senior executive leadership positions throughout his career. As President and Chief Executive Officer of the Brattleboro Retreat from 2006-2016 he led a significant turnaround that saw the organization become ranked by Modern Healthcare magazine as number 12 on its 2015 list of the 15 largest behavioral health providers in the United States. 

Rob has the experiences of a younger man in leadership and those of an older perhaps wiser leader to bring to bear. He has spoken to many legislatures, been interviewed by many newspaper reporters, worked with regulators, interacted on policy with Governors, Senators and Representatives, reported to several Boards of Directors and worked in both non-profit and for-profit organizations, including start-ups. Having also owned his own businesses, he has carried forward an understanding of the need for innovation and entrepreneurship in any business venture.

He provides expert consultation to Board and Executive leadership to leverage strengths toward creating results-driven strategic implementation by coaching leadership teams to shift organizational culture. Discrete areas of expertise include system alignment after mergers, transforming teams of uniquely trained executives, driving innovation in complex medical settings, and coaching leaders to recruit, develop and retain key professional talent.

Background: As Co-Founder and President of The Difference Leadership Group, Dr. Simpson works to strengthen the critical role that leaders play in supporting organizational resilience and transformation.

A Focus on Visioning: Dr. Simpson works to strengthen the critical role that leaders play in supporting organizational resilience and transformation. Visioning is about exploring and finding the right expression of the specific purpose for the person, team and the organization at the right moment in time. He has spent his career being attentive to this theme, integrating the skills of a seasoned clinician honed by treating patients at all stages of life challenges with those of a skilled organizational leader. He pays attention to how to integrate the unique stages of a leaders growth and development with that of the Team they are building and leading in the context of the unique environmental factors influencing this process. His focus on assisting leaders to then establish psychological safety within their teams and in the coaching experience allows leaders to enact true transformation in themselves and their organizations.

Specific Leadership Skills: This means that he has had to develop the transactional skills of managing the Mission (focus, drive, technical skills, accountability) that are optimally unleashed by understanding and developing the transformational skills to unleash purpose (visioning, creating and managing purpose, creating inspiration, reinforcing a culture of resilience). The combination of these skills allows a leader to develop the ability to engage others in a shared meaning through a distinctive compelling voice and message surrounded by a sense of integrity and strong personal values, seasoned by an adaptive capacity and applied creativity and enacted by an ability to transcend adversity and emerge stronger than before by finding opportunity where others might find only despair.

Executive Leadership: He is extremely effective in assisting new and seasoned leaders to accelerate their onboarding experience, setting early expectations for developing a leadership presence through effective communication and targeted skill acquisition.

Particular Skill with Physician Leaders: As a doctoral level clinician with an additional public health degree, he has worked extensively with Physician leaders assisting in clarifying and managing medical management opportunities, a strong quality focus and addressing physician burnout that enhances strategies to create clinician and leader resilience through purpose focused teamwork. Having led complex healthcare organizations, he has worked extensively with executive leaders and physicians as a partner, supervisor and executive sponsor in transforming care in small community hospitals, large tertiary care hospitals and across the community/hospital continuum of care. He brings an intuitive understanding also of the Board/CEO interactions on strategy implementation.

Leadership and Coaching Reputation: He is seen as a quick witted, outcomes focused, pragmatic and supportive transformational leader who can quickly assess and develop a focused plan for leadership success that assures accountability. As a seasoned executive leader and clinician, he brings emotional intelligence and administrative acumen to his work and intuitively and training understands the interplay of personal and professional leadership dynamics. While coaching is not psychotherapy, a sound understanding of each is valuable in crafting an effective, reliable and personally meaningful coaching plan.

Leadership Positions: Simpson is a seasoned healthcare professional, executive and consultant who has served in a variety of senior executive leadership positions throughout his career. From 2006-2016 he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Brattleboro Retreat, a psychiatric hospital founded in 1834 and a member of the original Ivy League hospitals. At the Retreat he led a significant turnaround that saw the organization become ranked by Modern Healthcare magazine as number 12 on its 2015 list of the 15 largest behavioral health providers in the United States.  In 2013 he launched a new partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont known as Vermont Collaborative Care, LLC. This groundbreaking approach to care management integrates the management of mental health and substance abuse services with those of traditional medical care and supports improvements in the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of providing care by treating the “whole person” across all conditions setting the stage for Health Care Reform initiatives.

Entrepreneurial Skills:  As one of the initial founders of CompHealth, Inc, a leader in healthcare recruitment, he understands the challenges of entrepreneurial positioning, investment and IPO decisions. As one of the founders of CompHealth, Inc, a leader in healthcare recruitment, he understands the challenges of entrepreneurial positioning, investment and IPO decisions. He is extremely effective in assisting new and seasoned leaders to accelerate their onboarding experience, setting early expectations for developing a leadership presence through effective communication and targeted skill acquisition.

Clinical Skills: As a doctoral level clinician with direct patient care experience and an additional public health degree, he has worked extensively with Physician leaders assisting in clarifying medical management opportunities, a strong quality focus and addressing physician burnout that enhances strategies to create clinician and leader resilience through purpose focused teamwork. Having led complex healthcare organizations, he has worked extensively with executive leaders and physicians as a partner, supervisor and executive sponsor in transforming care in small community hospitals, large tertiary care hospitals and across the community/hospital continuum of care. He brings an intuitive understanding also of the Board/CEO interactions on strategy implementation.

Board Positions: Additionally, Dr. Simpson has served in leadership roles on Boards of Directors:

Leadership Awards: Dr. Simpson has received numerous citations for leadership service:

Advocacy: Known as a passionate advocate for individuals suffering from psychiatric and addictive illness, Dr. Simpson could be heard for nearly a decade on the weekly radio show, “Keep Talking”, on WPTL 107.7-The Pulse covering topics ranging from the neurobiology of addiction and depression to the prevention and treatment of suicide.

Publications: His publications include articles and Op-Ed’s have spoken to important and critical issues in the public arena related to healthcare reform, gun violence and the need for specialized programs for uniform personal experiencing post-traumatic stress.

“Integrated Primary Care, the Future of Medical & Mental Health Collaboration” 1998.  W. W. Norton & Company.

Medical Patent Owner: # 8,500,719 B1: Catheter Support Medical Device. As a patent owner who has developed a medical device that addresses the unique interface of pain management and infection, he has experience in the process of taking an innovative idea through field trials to FDA approval and the legal processes of licensing.

Education:

Select Professional Coaching, Consultations & Presentations:

Professional Consultations as Senior Faculty with The Leadership Development Group  logo_Dark