Wendy Patience-O'Brien

Wendy Patience-O’Brien brings an impressive 25-plus years of experience in the HR and procurement space to her role at Intuitive Surgical. But her true game-changing differentiator comes from her experience in multiple enterprise functions — such as HR, finance and procurement — that really gives her the edge. “Through my knowledge of the business from several angles, I am able to build strong relationships with my stakeholders,” she says.

As Intuitive has grown since she started in 2018, O’Brien has leveraged these relationships to grow the program, quadrupling the headcount in the last six years. One recent challenge she faced was high turnover and low manager satisfaction at a key manufacturing site. “We had multiple suppliers with little accountability. It was just confusing.” To solve this problem, O’Brien installed a vendor on premise program with one supplier that is now in place solving problems in real time. This solution has brought the consistency and accountability that was lacking. Since inception, fill rates and manager satisfaction rates have gone up and turnover has gone down.

Across the organization, O’Brien has focused on driving compliance, awareness and value through the program. Her recent annual savings number topped $2 million, and she has instituted worker tracking across the globe to address the need for visibility for the entire contingent population.

As the company and program continue to grow, her focus will be on leveraging technology while continuing to enhance the global management and prioritize compliance.