Our Team
An unreasonable concentration of experience
Big Left is supported by a team of experienced operators, advisors, and specialists who have worked inside complex organizations across government, technology, finance, and mission-driven sectors. They have managed capital, led teams, rebuilt systems, and navigated environments where decisions carry real consequence.
Some engagements require a single perspective. Others benefit from multiple disciplines working together. Big Left is structured to support both, bringing the right expertise to the situation without unnecessary complexity.
The goal is not to build the largest team.
It is to build the right one.
Areas of Expertise
Where strategy meets reality
The Big Left team spans several disciplines that commonly intersect inside complex organizations. These areas reflect environments where leadership, capital, and operational systems must work together under real-world pressure.
Execution & Project Leadership
Large initiatives rarely fail because of vision. They fail because execution breaks down. Big Left brings disciplined project and program leadership to complex initiatives, ensuring strategy translates into coordinated action across teams, timelines, and resources.
Finance & Capital Strategy
Financial structure shapes what an organization can realistically accomplish. The Big Left team brings experience in financial modeling, capital planning, investment readiness, and fiscal oversight, helping leadership align strategy with financial reality.
People & Organizational Structure
As organizations grow, people systems become just as important as operational ones. Big Left supports leadership teams in designing effective organizational structures, strengthening internal accountability, and navigating change in ways that maintain trust and performance.
Government & Public Systems
Public-sector environments require careful stewardship of resources, infrastructure, and public trust. The Big Left team brings direct experience working within government systems where large capital budgets, regulatory frameworks, and long-term planning intersect.
Technology & Operational Modernization
Technology increasingly shapes how organizations operate and compete. Big Left supports leadership teams navigating digital transformation, emerging technologies, and modernization efforts that require both strategic direction and practical implementation.
Featured Team Members
Dr. Tera Cushman — Healthcare Strategy & Operations
Dr. Cushman brings a deep expertise in healthcare, organizational systems, ethics, communication, and quality improvement. She has a decade of professional experience in academic medicine, most recently as an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University where she also served as Medical Director of its Post-Anesthesia Care Unit and Program Director for the OHSU Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship.
Her work has included redesigning complex clinical workflows, improving patient safety and communication, leading multidisciplinary initiatives, developing institutional standards, and advising teams through difficult operational and ethical decisions. Her experience spans cardiac and liver transplant medicine, hospital operations, medical education, ethics, and organizational change.
She holds an MD from OHSU, an MPH from Portland State University, and fellowship training in Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology from Duke University Medical Center. She is board certified in anesthesiology and perioperative transesophageal echocardiography. She also has special expertise in clinical communication as junior faculty for the VitalTalk Serious Illness Communication Training course and in bioethics, serving on the American Society of Anesthesiologists Committee on Ethics
Tera understands what happens when complex systems must work in the real world, particularly in healthcare, where competing priorities, limited resources, strong opinions, and very little room for error are often part of the job. She brings clinical judgment, systems thinking, and a talent for making difficult problems and difficult conversations more manageable.
Tabitha Starr — Senior Strategist, Business Development and Brand Strategy
Tabitha Starr is a business builder and operations integrator who specializes in turning ideas, moving parts, and sometimes fairly impressive amounts of chaos into functioning businesses. Her work spans business strategy, brand development, web design, content, finance, HR, systems, and the operational infrastructure that keeps everything moving.
She has built businesses and digital ecosystems from the ground up, led reorganizations and operational restructures, rebuilt financial and HR infrastructure, developed revenue and launch strategies, and managed complex projects from concept through execution. Her background includes leading a team of writers in a high-volume financial publishing environment, overseeing more than 300 email campaigns a week, and working across nonprofits, startups, wellness organizations, and established businesses. She also helped transform a historic nonprofit property into an active, revenue-generating community destination that earned its first-ever Best Museum in Texas nomination.
She holds an MBA with a concentration in Human Resource Management and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Her additional training spans bookkeeping, leadership, and creative business strategy.
Tabitha is particularly good at stepping into undefined environments and figuring out what is actually needed, then building it. She sees the connection between the strategy, the brand, the customer experience, and the machinery behind the scenes, and has little patience for systems that look good on paper but fall apart in practice.
Strategic Working Session
Some decisions benefit from direct outside perspective before the next move is made. The Strategic Working Session provides focused access to experienced judgment on the question, situation, or inflection point in front of you.
You bring the issue you are navigating. The conversation is candid, analytical, and grounded in real-world operating experience across complex organizations. The goal is simple: leave the conversation with greater clarity about the path forward.
One conversation.
Clear direction.
Expertise tends to travel in good company
The areas above reflect common disciplines represented within the Big Left team, but they do not define its limits.
Complex challenges often require expertise that crosses sectors entirely — finance, governance, operational systems, infrastructure, technology, and organizational leadership.
If your industry or situation is not represented above, there is a strong likelihood the expertise already exists within the broader Big Left network.
And if a specialized perspective is required, founder James P. Ellis will ensure the right expert is brought into the conversation.
That is the advantage of a well-connected team.
Beyond the List
