Bette Gardner is principal of Breakthrough Learning. Since founding the firm in 1984, Bette has assisted a wide range of client organizations with consulting and training services, and she has developed a number of products for team learning.

Bette's experience includes positions in management and planning; consulting engagements in strategic, business and facilities planning and in operations improvement; development of team-learning curricula and tools; teaching and group facilitation; and governance leadership roles with nonprofit organizations.

During the past 12 years, Bette has taken special interest in bringing the discipline of Systems Thinking into routine practice in organizations, pioneering ways for people at all levels to apply concepts, methods and tools. She created the Friday Night at the ER team-learning game to bring concepts of Systems Thinking into widespread use. More recently, she has focused on developing computer-based simulation tools for client organizations for decision support, for planning and for broad organizational learning.

Bette has also collaborated with others to create computer-based learning tools. These projects have included The Fifth Discipline-Interactive with Peter Senge from MIT and Arthur Anderson & Co.; Risky Business: Mastering the New Business of Health and The Community Builder: Improving Quality of Life developed with High Performance Systems and The Healthcare Forum.

Prior to consulting, Bette spent 15 years in senior management positions with a hospital, a healthcare ventures company and a medical association. She was Vice President for Planning and Development at San Jose Medical Center during a critical turn-around period; she started up Health Advantage Ventures, a diversified service and venture-investment corporation, and served as its first vice president; and she was Associate Director of the Division of Research and Socioeconomics for California Medical Association. Bette has held faculty positions for numerous national conferences, and she has served as board member for local healthcare organizations. She holds a B.A. degree from Boston University.