Phoenix Leadership for Business

Dr. Val Gokenbach has a true passion for leadership and has been in administrative positions for over thirty years. She currently is the Vice President for Baylor Health and the owner of Dr. Val Leading Leaders Consulting Group dedicated to improving the quality of leadership in organizations. As a senior executive, she has managed an expansive span of responsibility, which included Nursing and several support departments such as radiology, respiratory therapy, radiation oncology, nuclear medicine, oncology services, neurodiagnostic services, employee health, integrative medicine, schools of allied health, patient service departments and the emergency services. Her greatest accomplishment has been leading the nursing team to the receipt of the prestigious Magnet accreditation awarded on January 14, 2004 for nursing and organizational excellence and re-accreditation in 2008.



Val is also involved in several community initiatives and served as the creator of Safety City USA, the first free standing, non-profit interactive learning facility for the community, dedicated to the reduction in pediatric trauma and Nurses 4 Detroit a foundation for philanthropic nurses in the South East Michigan area. Currently she is an independent consultant in the areas of organizational structure and leadership growth and development and a Professor for American Sentinel University. She also serves as the Medical Administrator for Mitch Albom Charities where she runs the SAY Detroit Family Health Center dedicated to the care of the homeless and uninsured women and children and the Have Faith Mission an orphanage in Haiti.



She also lectures on leadership topics and is active on several advisory and leadership boards throughout the community. A well-known author, she recently released her new book Phoenix Leadership: A Healthcare Executives Strategy for Relevance and Resilience and her own wellness book Tap Dancing through Life: Seven steps to finding your rhythms and the life of your dreams. She is also featured in Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul: A second dose and Nurse Executive: The four principles of Management from Springer Publishing.



She possesses a doctoral degree in management (DM) and organizational leadership, a master degree in business administration (MBA) and a bachelor's of science in nursing (BSN) and is a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow, was a Magnet Commissioner for ANCC and an alumnus for Leadership America.