Hi, I'm Michelle LeDrew
I partner with healthcare leaders to strengthen their leadership and quality improvement capabilities.
I hold a Master of Nursing and have more than 30 years of strategic and operational leadership experience in healthcare, specializing in quality improvement and system transformation. My career spans acute care, population health, and public health, with senior leadership roles in women’s and newborn health, interprofessional practice, population health promotion, and public and mental health systems.
I have held national and regional leadership positions, including serving as Canada’s National Baby-Friendly Project Director, and have led complex initiatives within large urban and tertiary healthcare environments. I am also a former Certified Health Executive (CHE).
My own leadership journey has not always been easy. Stepping forward required vulnerability and a genuine commitment to self-reflection—examining my core values, strengths and the areas where I still needed to grow. Through this experience, I came to understand how essential it is for leaders to have a safe, supportive environment for learning, experimentation, and development.
While improving care outcomes is always critical, how we lead this work matters just as much. The way improvement is introduced, supported, and sustained is what builds trust, strengthens relationships, and creates the conditions for lasting change. My approach to leadership and quality improvement is grounded in respect, curiosity, and practical application—supporting leaders and teams to do meaningful improvement work that is both human-centered and sustainable.
Strong leadership is built on clarity, collaboration, and systems thinking.
In our work together, I help you:
- Gain deeper self-awareness and reconnect with your core values
- Set clear direction and priorities in complex systems
- Build coalitions and work effectively across boundaries
- Strengthen partnerships and interprofessional practice
- Lead change that measurably improves health outcomes
I collaborate to help strengthens your leadership — not replace it.
My approach is practical and strengths-based with emphasis on the following:
- Listen & Understand your context and constraints
- Clarify Priorities where change will matter most
- Guide Action through mentoring and advisory support
- Measure & Learn using practical improvement cycles
- Step Back, leaving you more confident and capable
Improvement That Delivers Results
Quality improvement has been central to my leadership practice.
Using QI and LEAN methodologies, I’ve supported measurable outcomes including:
- Increased breastfeeding rates through leading a National Quality Improvement Collaborative Project across 25 hospitals using the IHI Model for Improvement
- Improved patient flow and reduced length of stay aligned with national benchmarks
- Improved surgical turnover inefficiencies to reduce patient wait times
- Achievement of the World Health Organization Baby-Friendly Designation
- Built stronger interprofessional teams who lead Quality Improvement Initiatives
- Increased patient, staff, and physician engagement across a large scale program
The focus is always practical improvement — not theory for its own sake.
Leadership development & quality improvement collaborative learning that works in the real world.
Words others have used to describe my leadership style and impact
