The Optimus Partnership

Scott Erickson and Amy Swisher first collaborated in the late 1980s when Scott was managing three medical practices associated with Southwestern Vermont Medical Center where Amy was serving as Director of Community Relations. They conferred on several healthcare-related projects and strategies, and later crossed paths when Scott was volunteering with a community agency that needed a marketing boost.

After Amy left the hospital to launch her organizational consulting and public relations practice, she and Scott continued to check in with each other periodically, and to share best practices. Recognizing the convergence of their professional goals, they decided to pool their experience and strengths, and formed Optimus Strategies in 2003.

Scott Erickson has managed and worked with a wide-range of health care organizations for the past twenty years, providing consultative and long-term administrative services in the areas of governance, strategic planning, internal and external marketing, information management, financial stability, production and operations. He has learned from experience that high performing organizations are built by high performing individuals, interacting in a work environment and infrastructure that complements their values and talents.

Scott’s natural collaborative work style engages diverse stakeholders at the necessary decision points to accomplish organizational goals.  And his attention to the details of analysis lays a firm foundation for efficient, results-oriented action planning.

Scott has served as an adjunct faculty member at LaSalle University where he taught Organizational Development, Management Theory and Human Resource Management.  He received his BA in Biology from Ripon College, and his MBA in Healthcare Administration from LaSalle University.

Amy Swisher has worked in organizational development and public relations since 1980. She has overseen multi-faceted marketing campaigns for clients in education, business, healthcare and the arts, and from 1999 to 2003 coordinated communication strategies and served as national spokesperson for the First Day of School America campaign. She has taught public speaking at the college level, directed a United Way through its first two years of operation, and pinch hit as a paralegal while completing graduate school. Her diverse background and natural affinity for people have enabled her to build coalitions and achieve consensus in a variety of settings.

In 1998, Amy began working in conflict management, integrating her skills and interests in communication, organizational behavior and Creative Problem Solving.  Her facilitative style and commitment to highly interactive learning assure client engagement in and ownership of the transformational process.

Amy holds a BS in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, and an M.Ed. in Organization and Management from Antioch/New England Graduate School.