Deb Cote

Senior Director, Strategic Planning & Performance
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Partners Healthcare

Adjunct Faculty
Harvard University Extension School, Northeastern University, and Simmons University

Deb Cote has been at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute since 2007. In her Strategic Planning & Performance (SPP) role, she leads a department responsible for setting standards, maintaining best practices, and measuring performance for projects and IS operations. The teams within SPP manage key projects for the institute, built and now support an established project management methodology, grow staff and management skills through training and mentoring, manage collaboration and productivity tools, and oversee portfolio and resource management. She co-founded the DFCI Projects in Practice and DFCI Project University training programs, increasing project management, process improvement, and change management knowledge and application throughout DFCI.

Prior to working at Dana-Farber and Partners Healthcare, Deb held project management and professional services implementation leadership roles in the high tech industry. She has also worked in the software, government contracting, publishing, and higher education sectors.

Deb is an adjunct faculty member at Harvard University, Northeastern University, and Simmons University, where she teaches project management and change management courses. She is a guest speaker at numerous healthcare, project management, and business analysis conferences. Deb is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI), HIMSS, CHIME, MPUG, and The Standish Group. She manages the PMO Roundtable for the PMI Mass Bay chapter.

Deb earned her MS degree from Northeastern University, her BS from Boston University, and her Project Management Professional certification from the Project Management Institute.