Meet Laura Sauber

We were lucky to catch up with Laura Sauber recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Laura, so happy to have you with us today and there is so much we want to ask you about. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others developed certain skills or qualities that we are struggling with can be helpful. Along those lines, we’d love to hear from you about how you developed your ability to take risk?

I wish I could point to a single moment, but as I reflect, taking risks has always been part of who I am. Even as a child, I felt a deep pull to stand up for what was right. I remember marching down the street, scared, to knock on a neighbor’s door and tell a bully to stop picking on my younger brother. I had an innate need to act.

That same instinct followed me into my professional life. As a compliance officer, there were times I had to stand alone on tough issues because either people didn’t agree or they were afraid to speak up. It wasn’t that I wasn’t afraid, but I could never ignore my internal compass.

Over time, this type of risk-taking became the foundation for my ability to take on other types of risks, particularly around personal and professional growth. Ultimately, it’s what led me to entrepreneurship — which has often felt like the boldest and most rewarding risk I’ve taken yet.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am the Founder and CEO of Sauber Consulting and CatalystHER. After 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry, including serving as an executive at well-known organizations such as Kaiser Permanente and Elevance Health, I decided to start my own consulting practice, Sauber Consulting. My firm focuses on helping healthcare companies assess, establish, and optimize the performance of their ethics and compliance programs. Additionally, I help organizations break through systemic challenges that are often caused by a disconnect between stated values, actual behaviors, what is measured, and how performance is overseen including up to the Board of Directors.

Recently, I launched CatalystHER, a network that empowers women in independent healthcare consulting to build thriving businesses through reinvention, entrepreneurial collaboration, and industry expertise. CatalystHER was born out of my own journey as an independent consultant. Becoming an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart, and when I launched Sauber Consulting, I found other women who were on a similar path. These women helped me stay the course and lifted me up when my faith in myself wavered. I decided I wanted to offer this kind of support more broadly — and thus, CatalystHER was born. More information can be found at catalysther.com.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

While I spent half of my corporate career as an executive and compliance officer, I never limited my perspective to just my function. When I sat at the leadership table, I saw myself as a healthcare executive first and a compliance officer second. This allowed me to bring the full breadth of my knowledge, skills, and expertise to every conversation. Never limit yourself based on your functional role. Engage fully so you can contribute at your highest level.

Another key quality was my courage to speak up, even when my opinion wasn’t shared or when others were hesitant to voice their concerns. Having the courage to speak your truth is critical to discovering who you really are. You might face rejection and it can be painful, but that’s okay. It simply means there’s something else waiting for you, something that aligns more closely with your values.

Finally, my ability to bring people together has been pivotal. Whether it was assembling cross-functional teams to solve major challenges and break down silos, or building a community like CatalystHER, collaboration has been at the heart of my success. We are all so much more successful when we work together.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

We partner with healthcare organizations ready to turn ethics, accountability, and operational excellence into their competitive advantage.

At Sauber Consulting, our ideal clients are healthcare providers and health plans who recognize that ethics and compliance are not just regulatory obligations, but essential pillars of operational excellence, organizational health, and long-term success.

We work with leaders who are committed to building resilient organizations grounded in accountability, performance, and integrity.

While we offer core services such as ethics and compliance risk assessments and program evaluations, we are increasingly called upon to help organizations solve broader operational challenges that require cross-functional leadership and collaboration. Using a structured framework that includes stakeholder interviews, surveys, and facilitated working sessions, we help leadership teams surface root issues, build engagement, clarify accountability, and define actionable strategies including oversight of performance up to the Board of Directors.

If you an organization is ready to create a culture where ethics, accountability, and operational excellence are fully integrated, Sauber Consulting can help make it happen.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sauberconsulting.com
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/laura-sauber
• Other: https://catalysther.com