Dr. Lowell is currently President of Lean Capitol, LLC which specializes in providing Lean and continuous improvement consulting services to government and nonprofit organizations
Dr. Lowell was the former Director of the Office of Lean Management for Maine Department of Health and Human Services as well as being a leader in the State of Maine’s collaborative, interdepartmental continuous improvement Bend the Curve (BTC) program. His responsibilities included the design and implementation of the Office of Lean Management for the Department of Health and Human Services, reporting to the Office of the Commissioner. The work included managing the Office, strategic planning, Organizational Development, process improvement, and working with staff at all levels of the organization–training and leading teams in Lean Systems knowledge and methods including value stream mapping, Kaizen events and coordinating with other state agencies on Lean practices with savings in excess of $4 million dollars. As a leader of the Bend the Curve program, Dr. Lowell was a founder of Maine’s annual Lean Systems Summit held each summer in Portland Maine.
The Bend the Curve program received recognition and award as a Bright Idea from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government — Ash Institute’s Innovations in Government program.
Dr. Lowell was the Director of Information Services for the Department Biobehavioral Health during which he led a complex, innovative project, working with multiple stakeholders, to develop a unified, enterprise-wide, web-enabled information system. In his career as public servant he also held a number of different positions in State government including Director of Quality Assurance at the August Mental Health Institute (now Riverview Psychiatric Center) and also served as Acting Superintendent for the Institute.
Dr. Lowell continues to be actively involved in Lean and continuous improvement as a an adjunct professor teaching Introductory Lean courses at the Lewiston Auburn Campus (LAC) of the University of Southern Maine and as a consultant in health care and education. Currently, he is leading an innovative project at the university to develop the Institute of Continuous Improvement (ICI) in collaboration with USM/LAC and the Androscoggin Chamber of commerce that will support local area businesses and organizations in improving their operational efficiency using Lean/CI principles and methods.
Dr. Lowell maintains an active research interest with his colleague Dr. George Davis on the effect of solar radiation on human development having published numerous articles on the subject.
Dr. Lowell earned his Doctor of Education from Columbia University in science. He was a professor at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada and completed post-doctoral work at Boston University Medical School. He has been a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) since 1998. In 2003, he received his certificate as a Certified Continuous Process Improvement Practitioner (CIP).