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From Engineer To CEO, Lou Faustini: Building Better Training Systems In Healthcare

• Deb Tauber • Season 3 • Episode 117

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,What if simulation felt less like a gadget showcase and more like a mission built around patient safety? We sit down with EMS CEO Lou Faustini to explore how engineered learning environments, clear data, and a people-first culture can transform clinical training from first exposure to real practice. Lou’s journey—from systems integration and Six Sigma to the helm of a simulation company—shapes a pragmatic approach to innovation: empower teams, listen to educators, and ship improvements that reduce friction in busy centers.

We dig into what EMS actually builds: integrated software and hardware that turn sim centers into reliable, high-impact training spaces. Lou connects the dots between flight simulators and clinical readiness, reminding us that safety is the ultimate outcome. Instead of chasing trends, he breaks down how AI can enhance scheduling, assessment, and debriefing by making performance data more usable for faculty and learners. The human remains in charge; AI simply accelerates insight and consistency.

The conversation maps the broader learning journey, where AR and VR have earned a real slice of training, and where interoperability matters as much as any single tool. Lou shares why small, practical wins—like lowering power consumption and simplifying interfaces—can deliver outsized value when educators are stretched thin. His growth priorities are refreshingly direct: meet programs where they are, be honest about capabilities, design for scale, and prove impact through data. That clarity fosters trust across institutions, partners, and the wider public safety mission.

If you care about simulation that actually changes outcomes, this episode offers a grounded playbook: empower people, harness data, and engineer for reliability. Subscribe, share with a colleague who runs a sim center, and leave a review with your biggest simulation challenge so we can tackle it next.

Innovative SimSolutions.
Your turnkey solution provider for medical simulation programs, sim centers & faculty design.

Discalimer/ Innovative Sim Solutions Ad/ Intro:

The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of anyone at Innovative Sim Solutions or our sponsors. Thanks to Innovative Sim Solutions for sponsoring this week's episode. Are you a healthcare professional or educator looking to level up your training methods? Then you need to check out the basics of healthcare simulation, a dynamic foundational course designed to introduce you to the powerful world of simulation-based learning. From mannequins to virtual reality, this class breaks down the tools, techniques, and strategies that bring clinical education to life safely, effectively, and realistically. Whether you're brand new to simulation or just want to refresh a course, this will give you the confidence and skills to create engaging, high-impact learning experiences. Ready to revolutionize how to teach and train? Reach out to Deb Tauber at Innovative Sim Solutions to set up your training today. Welcome to The Sim Cafe, a podcast produced by the team at Innovative Sim Solutions, edited by Shelly Houser. Join our host, Deb Tauber and co-host Jared Jeffries, as they sit down with subject matter experts from across the globe to reimagine clinical education and the use of simulation. So pour yourself a cup of relaxation, sit back, tune in, and learn something new from The Sim Cafe.

Deb Tauber:

Today we're here with Lou Faustini who's the Chief Executive Officer of Education Management Solutions, otherwise known as EMS. And under Lou's guidance, EMS continues its innovation and simulation management and competency solutions development, which now spans over three decades. Lou brings himself more than 25 years of experience leading in scaling technology businesses from inception to rapid expansion, and he's recognized for driving growth through operational excellence, continuous improvement, and outcome-focused strategies. Deeply committed to relationship development and cultivating a customer-first culture, Lou ensures that EMS teams consistently deliver exceptional service and measurable impact for their partners. So with that, thank you so much for joining us. And welcome. Congratulations on stepping into your new role as CEO at Education Management Solutions. Can you share a bit about your background?

Lou Faustini:

Hi, Deb. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me and for the nice introduction. Sure, I'll tell you a little bit about me, where I came from. And uh, you know, for me, it's kind of an unusual journey. I um way back in the day, I kind of thought of myself as an engineer or a systems integrator. And that's what I pursued probably right out of you know college. And I did that for a bunch of years, and really that engineering type of mindset, both mechanical and and technology, is really just kind of what got me going. That's what I drove towards. Then, you know, it kind of took an unexpected turn where I had an opportunity to become a Six Sigma black belt with General Electric. And wow, that was like a different experience for me. It was um really the quality aspect of operations and how to improve operations through using quality. And I did a rotation of about two and a half years, and when you do a rotation like that, you get returned back to the business afterwards. I'm supposed to take those learnings and that progression and bring it to the business. I would probably say, based on like my engineering curiosity and my systems integration, and then marrying it into that quality background, that turned into this business professional thing that I that I did in terms of running first regions in a company and then operational disciplines and work it up to executive level and really afforded the opportunity over those 10 years to marry these interests that probably at a younger age I didn't know I had, right? But they developed over time. Quality and Six Sigma business, along with foundational drive around engineering and integration. And uh, you know, I've had a really good run. I've been fortunate to work in technology-related fields with fantastic mentors. To me, I want to be to people the same type of mentor that people were to me over time, and I've been very fortunate in that respect. I mean that wholeheartedly. So if I could do that, I kind of check it off and say, mission accomplished. You know, I found myself to come to EMS after working and leading some companies, some through troubled times, some not. And odd entry into EMS is I was speaking with one of my mentors, you know, socially, and he said, Hey Lou, what do you know about simulation? I was like, why? And he started, and we just had a social conversation around talking about this this company, and guess what? I got curious, so I did research. So I called him back and I said, had some additional conversations and learned a little bit more. Then I went back and did more research, and and it it just turned into this is a a really interesting field. This is a really interesting company, and um the opportunity ever arose, I could see myself in there because it does good. I've worked in businesses where you think about and you say, what we do provides make sure that people have coffee in the morning, right? Or what we do make sure that people's packages are delivered to their homes on time. And yeah, I think about EMS and I think about what we do is we help make sure that clinicians are trained in some spec, right? In this continuous learning experience, this is a slice, but it helps provide for that training and that learning for that clinician that's going to help provide for an outcome. So the it's that purpose that really started driving my curiosity. So that just turned into another phone call, and then that turned into another phone call. And and before you know it, it was like, you know, this could be a glass slipper. And and that's what I'm finding it to be being in this chair, so to speak, for about nine months now. It's fun. I you know, I have a super amount of respect for the folks in this field and not just the simulation field, but the healthcare providers, the the educators, the institutions that that is just if you're not immersed in it, you don't necessarily have the level of appreciation and the level of respect until you're there. And then when you're there, you know it's a wow moment.

Deb Tauber:

It certainly is. Now, I know that you guys are the presidential sponsors for IMSH, which is very exciting, and we really appreciate that. So, for listeners who may not know Education Management Solutions, how do you describe the company and the role it plays in healthcare education and public safety?

Lou Faustini:

You know, I'm not going to answer that from a business perspective. I'm going to answer it from a what I think we do, okay, is to me, EMS creates healthcare simulation environments. They're somewhat engineered systems. So uh, you know, we do that for institutions that teach and train clinicians. And to me, providing these simulation solutions really help ready learners for practice. So we create centers, we create engineered solutions. It's hardware and software that's integrated to help those institutions. I could go into deep thousand-word dissertation around you know what EMS does, but at its core, that's what we do today. We create those environments. And back in the day, I'm a storyteller, Deb. I'm sorry.

Deb Tauber:

It's just I just stories.

Lou Faustini:

16 years ago, 17 years ago, you know, through a client that I had in another industry, it wasn't healthcare simulation, it wasn't this type of training, it was um, it was simulators for flight crews, right? For pilots. And you know, I was visiting the customer site because I do try to get out on the road and see what they do. And I got to see one of these cockpits, like one of these flight simulators in action. It was it was over in it was over in New York. You know, that was a wow moment. I'm like, look at how awesome this is. We're training pilots here, right, to make sure that passengers are safe. And I kind of relate that to what EMS does is in our slice, we're helping in some way provide that environment for learners to learn so patients are safe. And that gives us purpose. Does that make sense?

Deb Tauber:

Oh, yes. Having purpose is what is the most important thing, right?

Lou Faustini:

Yeah, I think so. I think so. And and being able to see your role and see a company's role in that, right? And that overall bigger purpose, and knowing that you're doing something or you're part of something that's addressing a really good outcome, public safety outcome or patient outcome, is just it's it just feels good. And you don't feel like you're coming home from work when you're coming home from something that just made you feel really good. It's not work, it's I have a growing love for this, is really what it turns into.

Deb Tauber:

Yeah, and I think you're just gonna continue to to learn to love it more and more. It's the more you know, and especially the people that are in simulation, you're gonna really fall in love with them. I mean, that is for sure.

Lou Faustini:

Yeah, I I I've gotten to meet so many wonderful people so far, and I'm sure at IMSH, I'm just gonna be, I'll probably be floored. And I'm looking forward to it. What a great event. There's so many great people who go there, and it'll be a great learning opportunity for me, as well as um hopefully for some people to get to know me and and what EMS is all about.

Deb Tauber:

Now, your vision is to create innovative solutions that empower the delivery of best health care. How do you see EMS achieving that vision in the coming years?

Lou Faustini:

At its core, Deb, people make the difference. And fortunate that EMS coming into this role, you know, I'm surrounded by a lot of great and dedicated people that care about what we do. Management plays a role as far as in any business, but my aim is really to empower our researchers, to empower our developers, to empower our engineers, our service professionals, our trainers, et cetera, throughout the business. If I can empower them, because they're just as passionate about all this as I am, and probably in a lot of cases more so because they've been immersed in it longer, if I could give them that empowerment to go out there and experiment and to learn and develop and to engineer and be innovative, listen to the market, listen to our customers, and then let's act. And when I think about creative solutions that empower delivery, it's hard to say, have any conversation without saying, well, how are you using AI? Right? I mean, I it's it is what it is, and it's a tool. Now, our approach with our people, these people who are empowered, is to say, how do we pull that tool off the shelf or out of the toolbox and implement it in our environment, right, that we're creating for customers to better produce an outcome. There's always a human in charge, right? And there has to be, and that's probably a little cliche as well. But that is that's what empowerment is to me, is saying there could be some prescriptive approaches, and we have those, because sometimes sales and management and other folks in the company just see more and taste more of what's happening in the market. But in other areas, it's innovation from the ground up, it's groundswell in the customers from a trainer who's out there working with a new institution or an existing institution that's a current customer and training them on how to use our products. And they say something like, But what if it could do this? Right now, you can't do every single one of the but what if it, but what if it can could do? Sometimes you just say, Well, I heard that three times, I heard that seven times, right? Now, now let's go, let's do an outreach. Let's go ask a hundred customers and see if what we're hearing is of scale, right? And then how do we enable it? Pull that AI tool off the tool to out of the toolbox, or there's there's too much power. I mean, simple things in engineering, like there's too much power consumption and it's driving our customers crazy. So, how do we lower the power usage footprint and help build a greener planet, right? Of our solutions. Just that coming from our staff, it's gold. And that's how I envision creating continuing to create innovation solutions. It could be AI, it could be reducing power consumption, it could be you know so many different areas, and they are there now. Our innovations that we're rolling out, some at IMSH, are not necessarily Lou's idea. They're somebody who in the business or or from our customers that came by and felt empowered to say, Lou, I think we should do this. And that type of culture and that type of environment is what we try to create in EMS. How do we become a bigger scalable company with keeping that same that same smaller business mentality? And we hold that dear.

Deb Tauber:

The spirit of culture, essentially. Yeah, it is great company, great company. Now you've led several technology-driven organizations. What innovations or emerging tools in healthcare education are you most excited about now?

Lou Faustini:

Now I probably covered AI, right? I mean that, but that is the that is truly the thing that is the buzzword, and it is the the buzz technology. So to me, I in looking at I saw this great schematic that was shared with me from one of our senior developers, and it kind of showed this continuum, this scale, a learner progression from high school all the way through residency and into practice. And I thought about our slice, but then I thought about other slices like ARVR, right? And we're not an ARVR company, we don't really create that content, but that is 20 years ago, that wasn't a slice, right? Right, right, but now it's a slice and it has adoption and it has its place, right? So when I think about EMS's slice, you could look at it from a perspective of saying, well, how much innovation? But you know, what are you doing? What technologies are you doing using to leverage your slice? Well, at its core, I kind of talked about what do we do? We have software, we have hardware, we create an engineered solution. So those innovations are yeah, how do we use smart devices? How do we, and how are we using the data and get that into more digestible user, usable formats for our customers? There's so much data that we pull in. So the innovation I see right now is there's always going to be better hardware, higher graphics capability. That is gonna continue to grow and we adapt to that, we integrate that. But where we're leveraging in the innovation is is how do we take data from whether it's from SPs or from scheduling or from or or from workflows and bring that together so that the institutions, the faculty, and the educators, as well as the learner, have accessibility into it so that they can create better outcomes. So AI plays a role in that. The hardware that's integrated in with our solutions and emerging hardware that is coming out in the market and is out in the market help enable that really using data to drive innovation. That's kind of where I see us going. And in some respects, that's where we we have gone.

Deb Tauber:

And you continue, you'll continue to go that way. Now, on a personal note, what drives you most in the role? What excites you about leading this EMS? And as it continues to transform uh healthcare, what are you what are your thoughts on that?

Lou Faustini:

So, what drives me the most? It's an interesting question. I never really approached coming into EMS with an end in mind. Okay. So what's driving me today is there's this true passion for engineering and learning and being a part of that outcome. So what drives me is the purpose and the outcome that we're helping generate. But quite honestly, it's fun. Um, I like the fact that we're in a company that makes a difference, that has a purpose, and it's actually fun. And there's so many great people inside the business, there's so many great people that are in the market, that are partners, that are customers. I think that's what's driving me the most right now. Deb, it doesn't feel like a job, it feels like a mission, and that's unique. I mean, truthfully, I haven't felt that way in a long time. So for me, this isn't rolling out of bed in the morning. This is springing to your feet. And I think that's what gives me drive. And I don't know if that sounds like too hokey of an answer, but it is what it is. That's what's keeping me going.

Deb Tauber:

I love it. Thanks. Yeah. Do you have any questions for me?

Lou Faustini:

Deb, I thank you very much. This is a great opportunity for me. And I don't want to make a commercial out of this because it's not intended to be. But looking ahead for EMS, what I'm focused on is I'm I am focused on growth. I am focused on the learners. I'm focused on the educators. And I'm focused on healthcare. And for me and for this, for this company, for education management solutions, no, for growth, it's about adding innovations into our products, ensuring our clients have what's needed and that we could scale. Meet them wherever they are at in their simulation journey is kind of the drumbeat that I have every single day when it comes to growth. Is it's not a one-size-fits-all business. Meet people where they're at in their journey and be very forthcoming around what and how you can do something and what you can't do. Be very upfront. I think that leads to growth. For learners, I think it's all about having great centers and tools to help them in their personal learning journeys. For educators, it's it's about meaningful ways with tools to execute their missions. Those educators are super important and they need high-quality, high reliable tools that are easy to use because they're busy people. Oh my God. I didn't I it for me that was a big learning is like how busy these people are, these educators and these centers. And then for healthcare, it's just it's all about public safety and great outcomes. So when I think about our mission, those table stakes is what I think about is growth for learners, for educators, and for healthcare. That those are our top priorities at EMS. And what I hope is I I hope that our current customers feel that. And I see such great days ahead for the simulation industry and for EMS as a as a member in that industry.

Deb Tauber:

Making that pie bigger, right?

Lou Faustini:

Piece by piece, slice by slice, um, but having the right approach in terms of getting there.

Deb Tauber:

Well, thank you so much. This has been a great interview. I hope that I get to meet you at IMSH. Well, as stated that not sure if I'm gonna be there or not. I know that you guys are gonna have a wonderful party. You always do.

Lou Faustini:

I hear we do as well.

Deb Tauber:

Yeah. So look forward to meeting you in person one day. Thank you and happy simulating.

Lou Faustini:

Thank you, Deb. Be well.

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Thanks again to Innovative Sim Solutions for sponsoring this week's episode. Ready to revolutionize how you teach and train? Then check out the basics of healthcare simulations with Innovative Sim Solutions and Deb Tauber today. Thanks for joining us here at the Sim Cafe. We hope you enjoyed. Visit us at www.innovative simsolutions.com. And be sure to hit that like and subscribe button so you never miss an episode. Innovative Sim Solutions is your one stop shop for your simulation needs. A turnkey solution.

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