About Roger W. Spoelman, DBA, MBA

Nearly forty years of leading through change, and a decade left to invest wisely.

My Story

I spent my career leading healthcare organizations, most of it as President and CEO across several regional hospital systems, together representing 24 hospitals, more than 30,000 employees, and over $5 billion in revenue. I've sat in boardrooms during mergers, walked hospital floors during crises, and made the kind of decisions that don't have a clean answer in a textbook.

Along the way, I earned a Patenge Medal of Public Service from Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine, and a doctorate and MBA from California Coast University. But the credentials aren't the story. The story is what nearly forty years of showing up teaches you about people, pressure, and purpose.

I believe my career has been orchestrated, not accidental. Work ethic and curiosity opened doors. A willingness to say yes to hard assignments kept me in rooms I had no business being in. And through it all, I've come to see leadership less as a map to follow and more as a direction to hold. A compass, not a GPS.

WHY SPOELMAN GROUP

After decades of leading large systems, I started Spoelman Group to do something smaller and, in some ways, harder: sit across the table from one leader at a time and help them find their way through.

I also lead Spoelman Group Custom Research, a research initiative that uses trained Gen Z and Gen Alpha researchers to help organizations actually understand the generations they're trying to reach, not just guess at them.

And I currently serve as Interim Dean of the School of Business and Innovation at Cornerstone University, where I get to do this work with students who are still deciding what kind of leader they want to become.

HOW I LEAD

I try to lead the way I write and the way I coach: plainly, honestly, and without shortcuts. I'd rather ask a good question than hand you an easy answer. I'd rather you find your own north than borrow mine.

Three voices shape how I show up in this work: Mike Rowe's insistence on authenticity, Andrew Huberman's respect for depth and evidence, and Carey Nieuwhof's gift for curious, graceful conversation.

PERSONAL

I split my time between Muskegon, Michigan, and Palm Desert, California, with my wife, Jan. Faith runs beneath it all, not as a slogan but as the compass itself.

Want to know if we're a fit? Let's have a conversation and find out.