Who we are in specialized management consulting

The people behind Making Work Flow

We're practitioners, not presenters. Our home is at the Gemba — where real work happens, with the people who do it. Here's who we are and why this work matters to us.

Eli Sharp

Founder & CEO, Eli Sharp Consulting LLC

Early in my career, I was given an extraordinary opportunity: to study lean and six sigma in Japan — to learn continuous improvement at its source, from the people who invented it.

I didn't know it at the time, but that experience changed how I see everything. Once you learn to look at work through the lens of flow and waste, you can't stop seeing it. You walk into an organization and you notice immediately where things are stuck, where people are working against processes that were never designed to help them, where capable teams are being blocked by systems rather than supported by them.

That's been both a gift and a driving force for nearly 30 years.

The belief that shapes everything I do

The organizations I've worked with — from Medtronic and BD to Amgen and Pfizer — have never lacked capable people. What they've lacked are systems that let those people do what they're already capable of doing.

People want to solve problems. They want to do good work. They want to contribute. When they can't, it's almost never because of who they are — it's because of how the work is designed around them. Unclear strategy cascades confusion. Processes force unnecessary escalation. Nobody has defined what teams are empowered to decide within the constraints of a regulated industry.

My job — our job — is to find those barriers and remove them. Not to teach people new tricks. Not to install a methodology and leave. To work alongside teams at the Gemba, see what's actually happening, and help unlock what was always there.

Why I'll never stop doing this

The moment that never gets old is watching a team realize they can do it themselves. The moment a group that was labeled 'dysfunctional' maps their own process, sees exactly why things were going wrong, redesigns it together — and then doesn't need to call anyone. That's it. That's the whole point.

I've been doing this work for nearly 30 years. I studied mechanical engineering, earned an MBA, and completed a Master's in Organizational Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania. I've led plant turnarounds, built CI programs from scratch, coached VPs and front-line teams alike. I co-authored 'Not Just Another Meeting' with my long-time mentor Rod Napier.

But what drives me every morning isn't the credentials — it's the next team that's stuck, and the moment they figure out how to get unstuck.

About Eli Sharp Consulting

Eli Sharp Consulting LLC was founded in 2013 with a simple purpose: to help people in organizations do better work — not by adding complexity, but by removing it.

We work exclusively with medical technology and pharmaceutical companies, because that's where our expertise runs deepest. We understand the technical complexity. We understand the regulatory environment. And we understand that in MedTech, the stakes are real — the work your teams do ultimately affects patients.

We're not a large firm. We don't believe in parachuting in teams of consultants who learn your business on your dime. We bring a carefully chosen group of practitioners — people who have led real operations, built real teams, solved real problems — and we work alongside your people at the Gemba until the work is flowing again.

The 'Ki' in our logo is the Japanese character for flow. It's at the center of everything we do — and a nod to where this journey started, in Japan, decades ago.

What we stand for

We are accountable. For building lasting capability, not just delivering reports. We guarantee exceptional results because we don't leave until the work is done right.

We do what is right. For your organization, your customers, and society. We work with companies that share our values and act with integrity in everything we do.

We innovate every day. We relentlessly ask 'Why?' until we fully understand what's happening and why. There is always a better way — and together, we'll co-create it.

We selflessly collaborate. The people who understand your challenges best are the ones living them every day. When we harness that understanding and work together, really great things happen.

We give back. Through SCORE mentoring, free training, and drop-in clinics at our local university. Building capability in our community matters to us.

The people you'll work with

Every member of our team is a practitioner first. We don't bring generalists or project managers — we bring people who have spent careers in the work, who can walk into your Gemba and understand what they're seeing.

David W. Eaker

Senior Director, RA/QA Compliance

David brings something rare to MedTech transformation work: the ability to see clearly where regulatory requirements are genuinely non-negotiable, and where organizations are creating compliance burden that was never actually required.

With 25+ years in MedTech spanning toxicology, preclinical sciences, RA/QA compliance, and R&D, David has operated at the intersection of science and regulation for his entire career. He's held senior roles in large MedTech, served on ISO Working Groups, and contributed to AdvaMed and EucoMed initiatives. He's a board-certified Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology and has been associate faculty at Duke University Medical Center.

In our work, David helps organizations define the real decision boundaries in regulated environments, what teams can move on quickly, and what genuinely requires a structured approval process. That clarity alone often unlocks significant speed without adding an ounce of compliance risk.

Kristi Riedinger

Senior Director, Operational Excellence

Kristi has spent 25+ years doing what most consultants only talk about: walking into complex manufacturing and operations environments, medical device, pharmaceutical, chemical, and actually making them work better. Her background spans global manufacturing networks, site leadership, business unit strategy, and hands-on execution. That range means she can see the whole picture and get into the details that actually drive change.

What distinguishes Kristi is her instinct for simplicity. Organizations in transformation often drown in complexity, elaborate frameworks, dense documentation tools that require experts to operate. Kristi cuts through that, working with teams to distill complex problems into solutions that everyone can understand, own, and sustain.

Her track record includes eliminating a $40M back order, reducing operating costs by over $10M, and training 250+ Lean Six Sigma belts. On ESC engagements, she gets these results at the Gemba, not just on paper.

Dr. Julie Roberts, PhD

Executive Coach & Leadership Development

Julie works with the part of the problem that process maps can't fix: the internal barriers that keep good leaders from leading as well as they know they can.

She specializes in helping high-performing leaders move past the ingrained patterns that quietly limit their effectiveness, overcommitment, difficulty delegating, decision fatigue, a constant sense of urgency that makes real rest feel impossible. Her approach combines executive coaching with targeted methods for identifying and clearing the deeper patterns that drive self-sabotaging behavior.

Julie's work is practical and action-oriented, not insight for its own sake. She helps leaders remove the internal obstacles that slow execution, so they can follow through on what matters, make aligned decisions, and lead in a way that's genuinely sustainable. In our engagements, Julie works with leaders whose teams are ready to move but whose own patterns are creating drag.

Laura Kriska

Global Collaboration & Trust-Building Specialist

Laura has spent 30+ years helping organizations close the gaps that make collaboration hard, across culture, geography, language, and function. She's fluent in Japanese, began her career at Honda's Tokyo headquarters as the first American woman in that office, and has built her life's work around one question: how do you help people who see the world differently actually work together?

She developed the TeamMachine®, an immersive simulation used globally to rapidly build trust, break down silos, and improve real-time collaboration. Her programs integrate cross-cultural strategy, behavioral science, and experiential learning in ways that are measurable and directly tied to business performance.

Laura brings this expertise to ESC engagements where teams are working across cultural, functional, or geographic divides, the kind of complexity that process redesign alone can't solve. She's the author of three books and a contributor to Harvard Business Review.

Scott Post

Operational Excellence & Lean Leadership Coach

Scott's path to Lean started in the United States Marine Corps, where clarity of purpose, discipline, and getting things done with the resources you have aren't abstract concepts, they're survival skills. That foundation has shaped everything about how he works.

With 20+ years in continuous improvement and Lean leadership, Scott has led operations and process improvement at scale — including as Chief Operations Officer at Pizza Ranch, where he led Operations, Training, and CI teams. He holds an Industrial Engineering degree from Iowa State University and has been deeply embedded in the Lean community, including serving on the board of the Siouxland Lean Consortium.

Scott is a practicing servant leader in the truest sense, someone who shows up to enable others, remove obstacles, and help teams find their own capability. On ESC engagements, he brings a calm, practical, results-focused presence that teams respond to immediately.

Dahlia (Dolly) Rigsby

Executive Transformation Advisor & Leadership Coach

Dahlia brings something rare to leadership coaching: four decades of having actually done the job. Before she advised executives through complex change, she led through it, across finance, IT financial systems, shared services, and global business services in multiple industries, including 10 years in MedTech. That operational credibility and personal experience shapes everything about how she works.

She holds an ICF Associate Certified Coach credential with a foundation in executive leadership development, change management and organizational effectiveness, and training across Prosci Change Management, Six Sigma Green Belt, Emotional Intelligence, and Everything DiSC.

On ESC engagements, Dahlia works with the human side of transformation, the leadership patterns and team dynamics that determine whether change takes hold or quietly stalls. Her community work includes board service with Girls Inc. of Memphis and recognition as a Top Latino Leader by the Council for Latino Workplace Equity.

WHAT CLIENTS SAY

"This team has the talent, insight and experience to quickly harmonize complex teams and challenges. We achieved more in a couple of sessions than with others that spanned months."

— Director, E2E Cell and Gene Supply Chain

"Eli's energy and passion are contagious. She is a master facilitator and expert collaborator. We achieved more on the first day than I thought we would in the whole week."

— Vice President, Strategic Projects

"Your care in this process is evident and key to your value proposition. It feels like a real partnership where you care about the outcome, not a consultant drive-by with data dump and wave in the rearview mirror."

— Senior Executive, Major Medical Company

"The team’s guidance was instrumental in getting us to truly understand our processes and how they could be improved. They also truly became members of our team."

— Director, PhD. and Board-Certified Toxicologist

"My experience was far better and more helpful than any of my prior 'development' opportunities. Your personal care is a key differentiator."

— Vice President, Fortune 500 Medical Company

"They did an amazing job facilitating the conversation and helping us to focus on key objectives. If you are looking for talented, capable people to help you with your Operational Excellence objectives, ESC is that team."

— Senior Manager, Operational Excellence

"ESC guided our group with skillful facilitation and in real time adapted to the emergent needs of the group. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and all members felt engaged, connected and their time well utilized."

— Executive Director, Non-Profit

"She insisted on learning from walking, talking and asking — and she collected more data and had a better understanding of the issues after one day than any other consultant. She was interested in the facts, curious about the exceptions and passionate about improvement."

— Associate Director, Operational Excellence

Want to see how we work?

The best way to understand what we do is to have a conversation. We'll ask about where work is getting stuck, and you'll quickly get a sense of whether we're the right people to help.

Book a Free Call

No pitch. Just a conversation about where work is getting stuck.