Metric ambiguity
Different definitions produce different truths—and erode executive confidence.
Signals by Thad/ Decision strategy · Operational intelligence · Data governance
The decision your data should be helping you make.
I help leaders turn fragmented data, competing definitions, and cross-functional constraints into trusted measures and defensible decisions.
01Data
02Operations
03Governance
DECISIONAction
Where I’ve operated at scale
Statewide operationsData quality, reporting, and modernization across Georgia’s 159-county vital-records system.
Enterprise measurementCommon measures and performance visibility across a national network of 50+ affiliates.
Regulated healthcareMedicare Parts C and D reporting, operational analytics, and decision support.
The real problem
Most organizations do not lack data.
They lack decision clarity.
Dashboards can show activity and still hide what matters. Strategy becomes defensible only when the metric, the operating reality, and the decision are designed together.
Operational blind spots
Aggregate reporting masks queues, friction, risk, and uneven performance.
Strategy without architecture
Priorities stall when ownership, governance, systems, and execution are disconnected.
Reading the signal
From signal to action.
I work at the intersection of strategy and execution—where a useful answer has to survive contact with policy, systems, workflows, and people.
Name the decision.
Clarify what must be decided, by whom, and what evidence would materially change the choice.
- Decision framing
- Stakeholder alignment
- Risk definition
Find the hidden constraint.
Trace the gaps across measures, governance, workflows, and systems that keep the truth out of view.
- Operational intelligence
- Data governance
- Performance diagnostics
Build the path to action.
Translate the insight into ownership, controls, operating rhythms, and an executable next move.
- Operating models
- Change leadership
- Executive decision support
Selected impact
Work that changed what leaders could see—and do.
01
Turned statewide operational activity into an executive decision system.
Built an operational intelligence environment connecting production volume, turnaround time, workflow queues, service performance, and workforce capacity across a statewide vital-records ecosystem serving 159 counties.
159counties connected through a statewide operational view
02
Made performance comparable across 50+ affiliates.
Standardized KPIs, metric definitions, and analytics frameworks across varied operating models—strengthening accountability and executive visibility across a national network.
03
Reduced the distance between business intent and system reality.
Led SQL-based analytics, UAT, validation, and reporting assurance across payer and consulting environments—surfacing discrepancies before they became compliance or operational risk.
Advisory through InformatiQx
When the measure is unclear, the decision inherits the risk.
I help healthcare, public-sector, and mission-driven leaders clarify the decision, expose what is weakening trust, and build a defensible path to action.
Decision Exposure
Define the consequential decision and the evidence it actually requires.
Data Clarity Sprint™
Find the gaps across measures, ownership, workflows, and systems that weaken trust.
Defensible Decision Review™
Test whether the evidence, interpretation, and action can withstand scrutiny.
Selected writing
DATA GOVERNANCE / DECISION STRATEGYFrom Data Chaos to Data Clarity
The Role of the Informaticist in Modern Decision-Making
Organizations rarely suffer from too little data. They suffer from fragmented definitions, disconnected systems, and information that never becomes a decision. This paper examines the informaticist as translator, architect, and steward of organizational clarity.
Read the paper ↗02
Operational trust is a governance problem.
Healthcare organizations can invest heavily in interoperability, dashboards, and analytics while still lacking trustworthy operational context. This perspective examined the structures that make signals actionable: consistent interpretation, accountable ownership, governance pathways, escalation, and coordinated response.
03
From Dashboards to Operational Intelligence ↗
A practical capability model for turning trusted information into decisions, clear ownership, and measurable action.
Experience
Built in high-stakes environments. Applicable far beyond them.
My background spans government, national organizations, consulting, payer operations, and enterprise transformation. The common thread is making complex systems more governable, visible, and actionable.
Georgia Department of Public Health
Data Quality & Informatics Manager · Lead data quality, reporting strategy, validation, operational intelligence, and modernization initiatives supporting Georgia’s statewide vital-records program.
InformatiQx ↗
Founder & Principal · Independent advisory practice focused on decision strategy, data governance, operational intelligence, and reporting defensibility.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Manager, Health Informatics · Standardized performance measures and governance across a national network of 50+ affiliates.
Anthem · ARDX · Kaiser Permanente
Progressive roles spanning data and business transformation, healthcare analytics, change leadership, regulatory reporting, and information operations.
About
I see the system behind the symptom.
I am Thaddeus D. Leavell, a data strategy, enterprise governance, and decision intelligence leader based in Atlanta. For more than 15 years, I have guided complex organizations through reporting transformation, performance measurement, data quality improvement, and operational modernization.
My foundation is in health information and informatics. My work is broader: designing the measures, governance, operating models, and assurance practices that let leaders act with confidence.
Master of Health InformaticsBS, Health Information ManagementRHIAUniversity of CincinnatiNAPHSIS Leadership AcademyAtlanta Technical College HIT Advisory Committee
Let’s make the decision clearer
Bring me the messy problem.
If the issue crosses strategy, data, operations, and execution, that is usually where I am most useful. Advisory engagements are delivered through InformatiQx.