The Team
What makes Kestgo go is
Our Team of Industry Experts,
Big Thinkers and Change Agents.
Kestgo started with three acclaimed industry experts who were determined to put people first. It has since grown to a diverse team of experience and accredited professionals, all offering a wealth of industry expertise and impactful insights. They all cherish their role in supporting support services, and they all wear their People-First approach as a badge of honor.
As a Kestgo Founding Principal, Ms. Keller has dedicated her career to support services and to elevating the people who perform those functions. With years of proven success and over 15 years in healthcare consulting, her expertise has been invaluable in helping Kestgo clients improve performance in areas such as food and nutrition services, environmental services, plant operations, engineering, volunteers, guest services, and patient transportation.
As a leading voice at Kestgo, Paula has proven successes guiding support service organizations through financial and operational challenges and is skilled in project planning, management, team leading, and facilitation. Paula has helped many Kestgo clients achieve breakthrough gains in cost, employee satisfaction, and the patient experience due to her passion for people, the pursuit of excellence, and for inspiring others to exceed their own expectations.
Paula is actively involved in all aspects of Kestgo’s operations, providing our clients with the talent and experience they deserve; and providing our team with the resources they require.
- Provided leadership and specialized expertise to underperforming support service departments, improving all key metrics.
- Implemented standardized operating platforms for Environmental Services and Food & Nutrition Services across several regional healthcare systems, largest being a 32-hospital system.
- Developed and led RFPs for multiple service lines. Provide ongoing support as a client advocate to monitor contract compliance and vendor performance.
- Led the assessment for Laundry and Linen operations for a healthcare collaborative with participation of five healthcare systems.
- Placed exceptional Kestgo interim leaders within support services across the nation, aligning best talent with the client’s culture.
Mr. Stookey, a principal of Kestgo Group, has over 30 years of industry experience in support service leadership and operations. Don’s hands on leadership style has led many strategic initiatives, driving down costs, improving operations and overall performance.
Don has extensive experience in support services RFP development, contract development, and negotiations. Don’s business development experience provides a leading edge when advocating for his Kestgo clients. Don’s priority is to create an excellent patient experience and a customer service culture that supports excellence and a hospitality mindset. He is a thought leader in Support Services, providing innovation and leading practices to clients every day.
- CHESP Certified – National Subject Matter expert in Environmental services, Facilities, Laundry & Linen
- Served as National Expert Resource on ES design materials
- Provided interim executive leadership in large Health Systems managing several departments including Environmental Service, Food Service, Facilities Engineering, Construction, Safety, Security and space planning.
Experienced work force design and engineer in regards to healthcare Environmental services, Facilities, Laundry, and Security.
Mr. Goettl, a principal of Kestgo, has over 30 years of industry experience in support service leadership and consulting, leading and advocating for support services teams, improving the patient experience and coworker engagement, all while lowering costs and improving productivity and quality.
Gary combines his practical experiences with a background in strategic planning, operational analytics, and change management to improve financial performance while producing meaningful and sustainable quality.
Gary has managed a comprehensive portfolio built around Support Services, with a focus on work force engineering, RFP development, cost savings, quality improvement and leading practices adoption.
- Degreed Chef and Registered Dietitian
- Led successful workforce re-engineering engagements across all support services – resulting in substantial client savings, along with both quality and productivity improvements
- Developed Specialized Environmental Services training curriculum for 5 Hospital Health systems.
- Developed RFP’s for all support service lines, resulting in substantial savings and client wins.
- Led program development for successful retail concepts and designs
- Provide services and consulting to global consulting firm – resulting in over 25 successful client engagements.
Before joining Kestgo as an Executive Advisor, Mr. Spicer’s storied career included time as President and CEO of OU Medicine, Oklahoma’s most comprehensive academic health system that includes OU Medical Center, The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center, OU Medical Center Edmond, Stephenson Cancer Center, OU Medicine Breast Health Network as well as Valir Rehabilitation Hospital; Spicer transitioned into the role of Special Advisor to the Board of Directors in July of 2021.
While President and CEO of OU Medicine, Spicer led the system to unprecedented growth and operating performance. Under his leadership, The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center set record admissions, emergency room visits and surgical volumes while significantly increasing patient-satisfaction scores.
- Spicer is active in the community, serving on the boards of United Way of Central Oklahoma, Allied Arts, Oklahoma Health Center Foundation, Oklahoma Hospital Association and Young Presidents Organization (YPO). Spicer also is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
- He also serves on the advisory boards of the Children’s Hospital Foundation and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oklahoma City.
- Spicer is a past recipient of the Red Shoe Award in recognition of his contributions to Ronald McDonald House Charities. In 2017, Spicer was selected as one of the Journal Record’s Most Admired CEOs.
- He also was voted among Oklahoma Magazine’s Best of the Best CEOs in 2015 and 2016.
Chuck’s understanding of the modern-day challenges faced by healthcare leaders puts Kestgo in an excellent position to deliver solutions to the marketplace.