Paul Husak FAITH, FAMILY, AND LEAN MANAGEMENT

INTRODUCING AMU’S FIRST CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Paul Husak has been following the University since its start in Michigan, but he never expected the Lord would lead him to work at the University in Florida one day. 12 kids and 25 years later, Paul and his wife, Cassandra, are settling into their new life in Ave Maria, as their fourth oldest enters her junior year at AMU.

Q. How did you hear about Ave Maria during her earlier years in Michigan?

My wife and I heard about Ave Maria from our priestfriend, Fr. John Hardon. He told us about the wonderful mission Tom Monaghan had started, and we were fast supporters. We were always fans of Mr. Monaghan’s work with the law school and hoped one of our kids would attend the University one day.

Q. And that led to your daughter attending AMU for her undergraduate studies?

Yes. Our daughter Sophia visited several years later in 2021 and was instantly sold on coming to AMU. When we were moving her into the dorms that summer, Cassandra and I spent some time driving around campus and going into Naples with our youngest, Max. It planted a seed in us that maybe we’d want to live here one day.

Q. How soon after that did you hear about a position at the University?

About a year later, I was sent the AMU Summer Magazine, which featured Mark Middendorf’s story. I recognized we had some similarities in our business backgrounds and felt inspired to reach out to him. I introduced myself in an email as a parent of an AMU student, brought up our shared work history and Catholic background, and essentially asked him to put me on a short list if any positions opened up in a few years – I was in no rush to leave my current position at GE. With a prayer, I hit send, and everything moved pretty quickly after that.

Q. What was the result of that email?

A week later, AMU’s Chief of Staff Julie Musselman reached out for my resume and set up a phone call between myself and Mark. We talked about our faith almost the entire time! After the call, Mark reached out to one of his colleagues for a recommendation and brought me down for an interview a few months later. I left Florida with an offer. It was definitely a lot faster than we were expecting.

Q. What was the discernment process like for you and your wife?

I discussed the offer with my wife when I got back, and we felt it was clearly God’s will. We both were open to how the Lord was moving in our lives and were praying for trust in His plan. At the same time, my wife and I started reading “The Ventures of Faith” sermon by St. John Henry Newman to help with our discernment. I’m on my third read and I’m still learning from it! Cassandra could see God’s hand in the offer right away though, so we started planning our move.

Q. Can you tell us a bit about your position?

Yes. When President Middendorf reached out to me, he brought up a desire to have continuous improvement across all University departments. My job as chief operations officer (COO) is to implement Lean management tactics to help the University achieve higher levels of efficiency.

Q. What exactly is Lean management?

Lean management is based on two main pillars: respect for employees and continuous improvement. With Lean, every process is executed efficiently and processes are optimized for value to the customer – in our case the University students, staff, faculty, and greater community. Everything can always be improved, and Lean management assists by eliminating waste, improving our processes, and delivering greater value.

Q. Has Lean management made its way into AMU’s departments yet?

Yes. We’ve seen incredible results from our Facilities team. After one session of training videos and little direction, the team completely transformed an area of the plant previously cluttered and not running efficiently. In just a week they ran their own 5s project. They also created an organized space for repairs with specific sections for electric, plumbing, appliances, HVAC, boilers, painting, and cleaning. Their efficiency and work ethic really blew me away!

Q. Sounds like things are already taking off! What are your hopes for future improvement?

Our plan is to have the other departments take a walkthrough of the facility and implement ways of encouraging Lean management across campus. A lot of companies take one-dimensional approaches to eliminating waste through things like budget cuts or layoffs, but these don’t improve the value they’re offering. Our goal as a university is to implement multi-dimensional, positive approaches that allow our teams to communicate better, be more agile, and work adaptably.

Q. What does it mean for you to serve the University as both a staff member and a parent?

There’s a Japanese diagram on vocation, linked to Lean management tactics. It shows the intersection between what you love, what you’re good at, what you can be paid for, and what the world needs. For me, AMU is the perfect summation of those four themes, and that intersection is my vocation. To be able to serve a community my family and I have been following for over 20 years, while implementing tactics I believe in, is an enormous blessing. My wife and I could never have imagined the Lord would lead us to this place in our lives, but 25 years and 12 kids later, we are very excited to be serving the Ave Maria community.

Paul Husak can be reached at paul.husak@avemaria.edu.