About Us

We built Neumann Johansen because the hardest problems in healthcare are rarely the ones that get explicitly named. They live in the spaces between physicians and administrators, between strategy and execution, between what an organization says it values and the realities of emulating those high standards.

Our work is to close those gaps. We help clinical organizations contain the risks, and the tangible and intangible costs, that come with human complexity — disruptive conduct, leadership fractures, cultural misalignment — so strong teams and strong medicine can continue to heal at the highest levels.

We are a practice of senior operators who have sat in the chairs our clients sit in, and we bring that perspective to every engagement. We bring deep experience from inside health systems, grounding in behavioral science, and a discipline of speaking plainly about what we see.

Dr. Harly Neumann
Founder, Managing Partner

Dr. Neumann earned his Ph.D. in Applied Psychology from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar, where his research focused on leadership self-awareness and corporate behavioral integrity. He brings more than two decades of experience across consulting and human resources, including sixteen years as an executive HR leader within large integrated healthcare delivery systems. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Human Resources for Sutter Health's largest division, where he honed a distinct expertise in resolving complex medical group and physician behavioral matters.

Throughout his career, Dr. Neumann has been a trusted advisor to C-suite executives and senior physician leaders, helping them navigate organizational complexity, mitigate risk, and lead through change. His areas of expertise include healthcare HR strategy, organizational culture assessment, applied psychology, executive selection, executive and physician development, and organizational transformation.

He now advises medical groups and healthcare systems on physician risk, cultural assessments and leadership stabilization.

Karen Hall, JD
Consulting Advisor

Ms. Hall received her JD at Yale and has over 25 years of experience providing strategic legal counsel to sophisticated healthcare and nonprofit organizations. Her last role was Chief Legal Counsel for The Permanente Medical Group. She is a proven leader with expertise in corporate governance, tax-exemption, philanthropy, serving as corporate secretary, complex commercial transactions and contracting, strategy, regulatory compliance and risk mitigation. Adept at a multitude of other legal and reputational matters relevant to a complex, highly regulated organization, such as crisis management, litigation, government and external affairs.

Dr. Sam Santoro
Managing Partner

Dr. Samuel Santoro is a board-certified OB/GYN and former President and CEO of Sutter East Bay Medical Group, where he led a 450-physician, 25-specialty practice into one of the Bay Area's premier multi-specialty groups.

His work sits at the intersection most medical group leaders find hardest to navigate: physician M&A integration, post-transaction cultural alignment, and the operational discipline that determines whether a deal delivers on its thesis. Across 35 years — first as a practicing physician, then as the executive accountable for clinician engagement, quality, and group performance — he has built a track record of helping physician organizations function as one group rather than a federation of practices sharing a logo.

Dr. Santoro brings clinical credibility physicians recognize immediately, executive judgment shaped by running a large group through real transitions, and a direct, pragmatic style that moves groups from diagnosis to durable change.

Location

San Francisco, CA

Phone

650-776-1743

Email

info@neumannjohansen.com