About Blogger: Stephen C. Crate

Stephen has over 25 years experience in private and public sector employment related to business management, vocational rehabilitation and human resource management. He has public service experience in education, planning, community and organizational development at the municipal and state level. Stephen has served on the Waterville School Board for the last 5 years.

Stephen was President/CEO of a Maine corporation for thirteen years that specialized in Workers Compensation and Long Term Disability case management and rehabilitation. He has a Bachelor degree in Rehabilitation Psychology and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Maine. He is a member of Phi Alpha Alpha the National Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration and the past President of the Maine Chapter for the American Society for Public Administration. He also has taught Political Science at Thomas College and Sociology, Psychology and Psychosocial Rehabilitation at Kennebec Valley Community College.

He currently works with the State of Maine where a lean government initiative called Bend the Curve has been ongoing for the last 18 Months in the Maine Department of Labor. Stephen is has trained as a Continuous Improvement Practitioner and data manager to provide administrative process analysis using Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen, Kanban, 5S and other Six Sigma methodology to transform the administrative process and employee function.

Stephen has developed a specialized interest in the individual employee transformation that occurs when lean concepts are applied to work in government. Employees become more satisfied, self assured and highly functional making government better for all.