Lori Rizzo, RN BSN MBA is currently a Performance Improvement Coordinator for the Quality Management Department at Blount Memorial Hospital. Prior to joining Blount Memorial in 2006, she was employed by the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) as a project manager for the Governor’s Department of Emergency Management Regional Response Planning Project. Additionally, she spent two years as a Health Services Consultant in business development department for the TMF Health Quality Institute in Austin, TX. Lori has been a health care professional since 1993 and has held various positions in cardiac and psychiatric nursing, college health, prison health care administration, and health care quality improvement. She holds Bachelor of Sciences degrees in Biology and Nursing, and a Masters of Business Administration degree from the Lowry Mays School at Texas A&M University.
Lori is a member of the American College of Health Care Executives (ACHE) and American Society for Quality (ASQ). She currently serves on the Board of Examiners for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (TNCPE), a state-level Baldrige Award organization. She is a past member of the Lowry Mays Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship and Toastmasters International.
While at Texas A&M University (TAMU), Lori completed elective coursework in entrepreneurship, strategic business planning and retail consulting. As a student, she co-authored, Crepes D’Suzette: A French Creperie Business Plan, which was a winning entry in the 2002 TAMU Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition. She was also the lead researcher and author of, The Brazos Valley Telemedicine Partnership: Business Plan, submitted as part of a grant-funded initiative by the TAMU School of Medicine and submitted to the St. Joseph’s Regional Health System. Lori has also managed her own part-time business, Rizzo’s Positive Pet Training, for the past thirty years. In this role she has provided behavioral training and consulting services to the public and local recreation programs in Colorado, Texas and Tennessee, including the TAMU School of Veterinary Medicine.