Deborah Sundal Email & Phone Number

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

St Louis Park, Minnesota, United States

As Executive Officer at Groves Literacy Partnerships (GLP), I lead our mission to transform literacy education by expanding access to evidence-based reading instruction. Our goal is to ensure every child reads at or above grade level, empowering educators to make a lasting impact. I oversee GLP’s growth, sustainability, strategy, programs, services, and partnerships to drive transformative literacy outcomes, starting in Minnesota and expanding nationwide.What We Do: The Groves Literacy Framework® provides professional development in the science of reading, innovative curricula, weekly coaching, platform-based services, and data-driven insights—empowering educators, our nation’s change agents, and improving student outcomes.Why It Matters: Minnesota has one of the largest educational achievement gaps in the country. In 2022, only 32% of Minnesota’s 4th graders were proficient in reading, with just 13% proficiency among African American students (NAEP, AECF). Research shows that students reading below grade level by third grade are four times more likely not to graduate (AECF). We aim to close these gaps by equipping educators with the tools they need to help all students succeed.Our Reach: For the 2024-2025 school year, we are partnering with 112 schools, supporting 600+ educators, and reaching over 11,000 students. Since 2016, we’ve worked with 3,250+ educators across Minnesota, helping bridge the gap and create lasting change.Our Impact: By spring 2023, 97.5% of students in GLP partner schools improved their reading speed and accuracy. Additionally, 30.3% of high-risk readers were no longer classified as high-risk, and 489 students achieved grade-level reading.Partnerships. Partnerships are at the heart of our work. We thrive through collaboration with school leaders, science of reading experts, policymakers, researchers, innovators, and philanthropic supporters who share our commitment to transforming literacy education. We invite you to connect.

Edina, Minnesota, United States

Strategic, versatile, and innovative executive with a proven track record of rapidly building and scaling human-centric businesses, products, and services in healthcare and literacy. Specializes in strategy, business plan development, product, experience design, operations, research, and leadership.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

• Response leader for the maternal mortality and morbidity crisis through the enterprise expert task force. Led the design of a comprehensive, cross-payer, value based, maternal care medical practice to pilot. • Designed outcome measure protocol with experts to assess for value generation. Measures align to national standards and address the underlying risk factors including prematurity, cesarean, NICU stay, and ER visits. • Grew partnerships with internal business units by developing frameworks to enable interdisciplinary teams to create, test, de-risk, and integrate experiences for stronger engagement and value.

Minnetonka, Minnesota, United States

• Leader of operations, governance, partnerships, and talent strategies for UHG’s Research and Development, an organization of over 1,400 global professionals and an annual budget of $500M+.• Grew business, academic, and non-profit partnerships with over 200 internal and external partners to enable advanced analytics, AI/ML models, new products, and business growth. • Led a direct team of over 250 research directors, data scientists, operations, and program directors to advance new businesses. Efforts included a diabetes focused virtual value-based care (Level2) and COVID-19 efforts.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

• Led a 50+ product team who built and partnered on early-stage innovations addressing UHC and Optum’s clinical and financial challenges. Products generated over $500M of revenue and enabled successful federal partnerships with the CDC and public and private payers. Examples include diabetes (Project Not Me), weight loss (Real Appeal), and virtual group prenatal care (Wellhop for Mom & Baby). • Designed and ran enterprise-wide innovation portfolio, executive and employee innovation communities, and annual innovation conference with over 50K+ employee participation.• Instituted operations including the forecasting and management of a $30M budget, defining leadership team practices, annual planning and quarterly reviews, and external amplification.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Leader of a cross-payer initiative to design and launch Guroo.com, a health care cost and quality transparency consumer tool. Initiative included four national payers, the non-profit, and a consumer launch in Q1 of 2015. • Collaborated on a multi-payer data access portal for academic partners for robust real-world analysis of drugs, devices, and healthcare programs.

Minnetonka, Minnesota, United States

• Explored projected health trends, gaps, and solutions with the internal strategic think tank aligned to US health reform. Co-produced data-driven working papers focused on diabetes and women and children’s health.• Designed and tested new products informed by the intersection of data and new healthcare policy, including pre-diabetes products (YMCA partnership, Not Me) and childhood obesity (JOIN for Me). • Managed a $15M budget. Instituted consistent financial, business, and people planning processes.

Golden Valley, Minnesota

• Drove product development for new Optum wellness products including Healthy Weight, Telephonic Wellness Coaching, Quit Power, and Healthy Back. • Spearheaded wellness operations through design, build, launch, and growth. Hired over 150 wellness coaches, built product tools, and designed measurement, training, and quality assurance programs. Resulted in six new operational wellness sites in MN, GA, CA, TX, CA, and AZ and quality assurance accreditation (NCQA). • Represented operations for National Client sales, enabling year-over-year growth of products.

Edina, Minnesota

• Co-founder and leader of product, operations, and UHG acquisition integration for the digital wellness platform. Leveraged state-of-the-art technologies inclusive of Ruby on Rails full-stack framework, evidence-based content, and behavior change principles.

Edina, Minnesota, United States

Teacher and literacy leader at top 10 MN school district. Mentored high-potential teachers and designed language arts strategy and curriculum at the district level.

Bachelor Of Arts - Ba

Master Of Arts - Ma