Steve Nguyen, PhD

Atmos Energy, headquartered in Dallas, is America’s largest natural gas-only distributor. Atmos Energy delivers natural gas to more than 3 million distribution customers in over 1,400 communities across eight states located primarily in the South.

1. Collaborates with Atmos Energy leaders throughout all business units to (a) identify employee and leadership development goals & objectives, and (b) refine and strengthen leadership development approach.

2. Produces toolkit for growing Atmos Energy culture & developing leaders. Innovates and creates programs & tools that develop skills on-the-job & in-the-flow of work, augmenting traditional solutions for employee and leadership development. 

3. Creates and maintains learning path roadmaps for developing Atmos Energy leaders by identifying expectations & capabilities needed at different levels of leadership and providing guidance.

4. Advances a culture of coaching & mentoring where Atmos Energy leaders identify their own coaching styles and hone their coaching skills. Establishes coaching identity as a critical development tool.

5. Supports and empowers new Atmos Energy leaders in adjusting to their new roles and responsibilities while maintaining a high level of support for tenured leaders at all levels of the organization.

6. Assesses effectiveness of Atmos Energy talent development programs using data, metrics, and employee feedback. 

7. Oversees Atmos Energy’s Educational Assistance Program. Advocates for the program as an effective way for employees to learn & grow in their careers. 

8. Manages LinkedIn Learning platform for the Atmos Energy enterprise. Acts as main liaison with LinkedIn Learning customer relationship managers and drives further adoption of the platform across the enterprise.

Service King Collision, one of the most respected and recognizable collision repair brands in the world, is a leading operator of comprehensive, high-quality collision repair facilities. It is consistently recognized for customer satisfaction, quality workmanship, and innovative training.

• Responsible for the planning, design, delivery, and evaluation of leadership development curricula to support management and leadership development company-wide.
• Partnered with CHRO, Sr. HR Director, Operations SVP and VPs, and other business leaders to understand and identify leadership development needs and design solutions, helping to drive continuous improvement in the way the company attracts, develops, and creates meaningful work experiences throughout the organization.
• Cultivated a robust leadership pipeline through development/training actions, identified as part of the talent reviews and succession planning processes.
• Administered learning evaluations and assessments to ensure targeted levels of effectiveness and impact of learning programs to achieve business outcomes.
• Developed and rolled out post-training support and reinforcement tools to sustain behavioral change and drive improved performance and business outcomes.
• Program Manager with primary ownership and oversight of Service King Leadership Academy. Service King Leadership Academy is a leadership development program designed to provide a relevant hands-on learning experience for all Service King leaders. In partnership with the University of Texas at Dallas, it is an instructor/expert-led program, built around an in-person, classroom training with a follow-up remote learning content and experiences.

MedSynergies (a physician practice consulting firm) was acquired in September 2014 by Optum, a consulting and analytics division of the country's largest health insurer, UnitedHealth Group.

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT | LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT:

• Advised on all aspects of learning to clients and senior leadership to support learning & development initiatives. Consultations included: strategy, measurement, needs analysis, and course and program selection and implementation.
• Collaborated with stakeholders on how to achieve desired results efficiently & effectively, addressing root causes of performance gaps rather than symptoms or side effects.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT | TALENT MANAGEMENT:

• Program manager responsible for corporate university (MedSynergies Institute Academy) that aims to develop employees & high potentials (Sales, Operations, and IT) and teach them business acumen, revenue cycle management, physician healthcare practices, and company’s product lines.
• Developed a detailed, executive-level Succession Planning presentation (including a “Talent Profile” template and a “9-Box Grid & Key”) for managers and executives.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT:

• Developed a change management workshop (Organizational & Individual Change and Prosci/ADKAR Change Management Model) to train and equip workshop participants with an understanding of and appreciation for change, as well as the needed skills to manage that change.
• Created a detailed Change Management Plan with a project plan that walked stakeholders through integrating Change Management process and methodology into a Talent Management Project.

University of Phoenix is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association, one of six regional accrediting bodies in the U.S.

Role: Through the subject of health and wellness, I instill in students the belief that no matter how old a person is or how many health problems s/he faces, everyone can make positive changes for a healthier future. I empower students to learn about health risks, develop plans for change, and make healthy lifestyle changes in their daily life. Most of all, I encourage my students to always believe that they can change their own behaviors as well as become an agent for a healthy change in their own families and communities.

Key Accomplishments:

• Engaged learners using didactic, Socratic, and facilitative techniques to help them sharpen their skills while learning practical, relevant lessons about health and wellness.
• Facilitated learning process by organizing and translating information into a format that matches learners' current level of understanding, allowing them to build upon knowledge they have already learned.
• Helped learners apply critical thinking skills to evaluate the credibility of information and rely on evidence-based methods to reach a conclusion or develop a solution.

UNT is one of Texas' largest universities with 38,000+ students. It has a total endowment of $200 million.

Role: Helped design, deliver, and evaluate diversity initiatives for the university. Collaborated with senior-level executives to coordinate and develop orientation and training programs and ensure alignment with university strategic goals.

Key Results:

• Ensured successful delivery of diversity education and training programs throughout campus including development and implementation of policies and procedures in the areas of training, faculty and student rights and responsibilities, and new student and faculty orientations.
• Fostered a teamwork environment conducive to positive dialogue across all departments. Personal efforts were cited as a driving force behind new students’ interests and retention in multicultural activities.
• Created and delivered Ally Training program to support faculty and staff in creating a safe zone for highly diverse, minority group members. Wrote and designed the ALLY Training manual covering issues including safety, discrimination, expert insights, and rights information.

Nestlé is the world's leading nutrition, health and wellness company. It is ranked by Forbes as one of the world's most valuable brands.

Role: Helped project engineering managers track and guide materials management and service process to build bottling facilities throughout North America.

Key Results:

• Cost tracked and reconciled multi-million-dollar construction projects ranging from $5 million to $20+ million.
• Analyzed and resolved invoicing problems, goods receipt/invoice receipt (GR/IR), vendor billing issues, payment discrepancies for construction and maintenance of water bottling facilities.
• Managed budgets, checked to ensure that proper funds had been allocated for each project, and worked with project managers to ensure project requests are delivered on time.

Collin College is a public, higher learning institution. It serves about 59,000 credit and continuing education students each year.

Role: Served students with disabilities. Established academic and mental health support system, enabling students with learning, emotional, and mental disabilities the opportunity to learn and thrive.

Key Results:

• Developed and delivered quality disability services to student population at Collin College. Implemented programs and policies in the areas of advising to students and training to faculty, to improve college learning experience for students and college teaching experience for faculty.
• Promoted teamwork-based environment to drive better interaction with & services to students. Personally cited by students as the dynamic force behind improved advisor-student relations.
• Counseled students in getting the appropriate level of mental health care. Proctored and administered tests for students on all campuses needing special testing arrangements.
• Delivered presentation on alternative education for students with disability, helping them and their families to understand their rights and options.

School system in North Pacific Ocean comprised of 20 schools and 12,000 students across three islands.

Role: Helped school district in servicing learning and emotional needs of students. Worked with administrators, teachers & staff to create policies & procedures. Developed and headed orientation & crisis management training programs and effectively handled crisis issues in school & workplace.

Under organizational development framework (i.e., top-down plan to strengthen employee knowledge and skills & improve overall health of the organization), designed and implemented pro-active approach to crisis management in school system that included:

• Focus on prevention and strategies for defusing anxious, hostile, or violent behavior at the earliest possible stage.
• Developing crisis management plan & communication: (i) Prevention: three levels of prevention for inappropriate behavior, ranging from school-wide positive behavioral expectations to specialized individual systems for specific groups or individuals, (ii) Collaboration: collaborative team approach to prevention through the involvement of key stakeholders including the individual, family, staff, and administration, (iii) Person-Centered Plans: Relationship-based approaches foster person-centered, respectful interactions between staff and the individual.
• Training individuals & teams in physical crisis intervention, to be used as a last resort (Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training delivered to over 800 individuals).
• Empowering educators and community about crisis management: (i) 3-hour presentation to the local community, and (ii) School Crisis & Acute Traumatic Stress Management Handbook.

Letter from Director of the Crisis Prevention Institute for delivering Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training to hundreds of individuals in the school system.

Given for “Public Service, Volunteer Work and Advocacy in Improving the Lives of Individuals with Mental Health Disability, and most especially for Children with Special Needs.”