Chirag Padalia
Padalia hopes that all of Milwaukee's children will graduate from high school.
Chirag Padalia. Photo courtesy of NEWaukee.
Where do you work and what makes your role awesomesauce?
I am the Director of Workforce Strategy & Analytics at Aurora Health Care. My team is responsible for developing and implementing system-wide workforce planning strategies driven by a lot of data and analytics.
The opportunity to positively impact the patient care that we deliver in the communities that we serve is what makes my role awesomesauce. Although, I am not a direct caregiver, the work that my team performs ensures that we have the right people to deliver the best care that we can. Who would have ever thought that supply-demand modeling, big data, and regression models (#nerdy stuff) will help people live well.
How long have you lived in Milwaukee and what brought you here?
I have lived here for almost a year and a half. When my current boss and the team here reached out to me while I was still in the Chicago area about the new role Aurora was creating, I got interested…long story short, here I am. It was the opportunity to build a team that will elevate data driven workforce planning at the biggest private employer in the state and one of the biggest healthcare organizations in the Midwest that drew me here. Even though Aurora is a huge organization, it fosters the start-up culture and is really making concentrated efforts to invest in millenials like us.
What is one word that you would use to describe Milwaukee?
Rich! Rich culture, history, food, and beer.
If you could create one thing in Milwaukee, what would it be?
I would love to successfully start a mentoring program; especially, for the under-served youth in the community wherein we can tap into young professionals to mentor a student to ensure their success through high school. The idea is for us young professionals to act as mentors and leverage social media to have regular touchbases with the mentee.
What local restaurant is at the top of your list?
Odd Duck. It has great food, great service, and I love the ever-changing menu.
What is your biggest hope for this city?
No homeless and 100 percent of the kids graduate from high school and go onto college or vocational programs.
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The headline writer should be aware that Chirag Padalia hopes, correctly, that “100 percent of the kids graduate FROM high school and go onto college or vocational programs,” not “graduate high school.” At one time, only to be graduated BY a school was correct, & is still preferred, but “graduate high school” remains illiterate & does no service to Padalia as a professional mentor. But note that instead of “mentee,” a newly-fashionable coinage, the well-established “protege” would be more acceptable. Some cute “awesomesauce” indeed.
@Mike Thanks. Fixed.