High Reliability Group helps organizations operating in high risk, high consequence environments prevent operational drift, reduce catastrophic risk, and build leaders who perform under pressure. Drawing from High Reliability Organization (HRO) principles ingrained since the inception of Rickover’s Nuclear Navy, we work with executive and operational leaders to strengthen safety culture, decision making, and execution where failure is not an option. Our work focuses on real operations, real leaders, and measurable outcomes, not theory, buzzwords, or compliance theater.
Our Solutions
High Reliability & Operational Excellence Services
Culture Transformation Services
Transforming Operations Through Systematic Cultural Evolution
Our HRO Culture Transformation projects recognize that sustainable change happens through carefully sequenced interventions: preliminary assessments that establish your baseline and quick wins, immediate actions that address critical gaps and build credibility, and ongoing initiatives that embed new behaviors and sustain long-term excellence. HRG’s model for building a high reliability organization factors in management systems, culture, leadership and feedback, all working in alignment.
Whether you’re beginning your transformation journey or accelerating existing efforts, our systematic approach ensures each phase builds upon the last, creating lasting organizational change that drives operational excellence and prevents major incidents.
Rapid Operational Assessment (72h)
High risk, high consequence operations can drift from best practice long before an incident exposes the cracks. Our Rapid Operational Assessment (ROA) gives senior leaders an unfiltered, observation‑driven picture of their organization’s reliability posture – fast.
In just three days, our former U.S. Nuclear Navy commanders and industry experts uncover hidden vulnerabilities and areas of excellence you can immediately replicate across the enterprise.
Leadership Coaching & Training (Human Factors)
Practical skills that reduce error and speed recovery: pre-task briefs, error-trap spotting, speak-up behaviors, just-culture responses, and high velocity after action reviews. We coach in the work using micro- drills and real scenarios.
Deliverables: role-based playbooks, job aids, observation cards, coaching plans, and After-Action Review (AAR) scripts.
Outcome: fewer human-error events and faster detection/correction.
OEMS Design & Support
We design and embed your Operational Excellence Management System so execution is consistent across shifts and sites: tiered daily management, leader standard work, PDCA problem solving flow, escalation paths, and ensuring your operations playbooks are fit for purpose.
Deliverables: OEMS blueprint, RACI, KPI definitions, board/templates, audit checklists, and enablement guides.
Outcome: stable throughput, tighter variability, and predictable performance.
Leadership Development Program (LDP)
Build leaders who marry technical precision with human reliability. Cohorts use HRG’s CARE framework (Communication, Accountability, Responsibility, Engagement) and a blended cadence – brief on-site intensives plus live virtual modules and field assignments – tied to clear performance metrics.
Choose a 30-day Flex Pass, a single skill module, or a 12-month mastery path that flexes around shifts and outages, culminating in a capstone that proves ROI.
Maritime Quality Assurance Services
Rapid Compliance Assessment
Audit Recovery
Continued Assurance
Workshops Services
HRO Leadership Workshops
Hands-on sessions for executives and their teams to run a high-reliability operation in the real world. We practice tiered daily management, leader standard work, incident learning, and human factors (pre-task briefs, cross-checks, just-culture responses). Live drills in situ translate principles into repeatable behaviors. Deliverables: role-based behavior cards, tier meeting agendas, visual boards/templates, AAR scripts, and a 30/60/90 integration plan. Outcome: safer execution, tighter control, faster problem solving.
Decision-Making & Human Factors Workshops
Intense, scenario-driven practice for high-stakes calls under time pressure. We apply proven frameworks (pre-mortem, red teaming, OODA loops), error-trap spotting, and crisis communications to reduce cognitive overload and improve team coordination. Deliverables: decision playbook, Go/No-Go matrices, comms checklists, and after-action templates. Outcome: better decisions on the first try, fewer human-error events, quicker recovery.
Customized Workshops
Built from your operating context and constraints. We tailor modules – turnarounds, outage readiness, shift handover, MOC, supplier performance, audit cadence, and deliver onsite or virtual in half-day to multi-day formats. Deliverables: custom curriculum, case packets from your data, KPI definitions/dashboards, and a sequenced change plan with owners. Outcome: targeted behavior change with measurable impact on safety, quality, delivery, and cost.
Keynotes & Event Speaking
High-energy, no-fluff talks for leaders running high-risk, high-consequence operations. Our speakers translate nuclear-submarine rigor and large-scale turnarounds into simple tools your teams can use the next day – decision frameworks, human-factors habits, and management rhythms that raise reliability.
Popular Topics (Pick & Mix)
Accountability & Reliability as the Norm – just culture, role clarity, and consequence management that stick
Leadership Under Pressure: Decisions & Risk – OODA loops, pre-mortem, and red teaming for time-compressed calls
Human Factors & Incident Prevention (HRO) – error traps, cross-checks, speak-up behaviors, and rapid recovery
Sustainable Change & Operational Excellence – OEMS, tiered daily management, leader standard work, and KPI trees
Creating a Learning Culture – incident learning systems, AAR cadence, and psychologically safe debriefs
Attention to Detail: Quality at the Point of Work – procedural compliance, three-way communication, peer checks, and verification
Crisis Response Leadership – stabilize, communicate, and prioritize through decision cells, comms cadence, and tempo control
Safety Leadership – leading indicators, field presence, hazard recognition, and just-culture responses
Assurance Programs for Supply Chains – traceability, supplier oversight, and Level I/critical material controls
Leading Today’s Workforce – mentoring, coaching reps, and ownership behaviors for modern crews
Sustainable Change & Operational Excellence – OEMS, tiered daily management, leader standard work, and KPI trees
Operational Excellence
Accountability & Reliability as the Norm – just culture, role clarity, and consequence management that stick
Accountability & Reliability
Stabilize, communicate, and prioritize through decision cells, comms cadence, and tempo control
Crisis Response Leadership
Incident learning systems, AAR cadence, and psychologically safe debriefs
Creating a Learning Culture
Quality at the Point of Work – procedural compliance, three-way communication, peer checks, and verification
Attention to Detail
Formats
30-60 min keynotes or longer duration workshops tailored to your initiatives.
Deliverables
customized talk (pre-event discovery), audience handouts as needed
Outcome
a shared language for reliability, three behaviors to start tomorrow, and clear metrics owners can track.
Industries
HRG partners with leaders in high-risk industries, including energy, refining, chemical processing, maritime, shipbuilding, manufacturing, utilities, and critical infrastructure – to integrate safety, reliability, and performance into daily operations. By applying proven High Reliability Organization principles, we help executive teams build cultures of accountability, resilience, and disciplined leadership that prevent incidents, strengthen efficiency, and deliver sustainable results under pressure.
Current or Past Clients
Testimonials
Why People Love Working With Us
Results
What leaders get
30%
2-4x
72h
*Illustrative; validated with client benchmarks during discovery.
Proven Case Studies
Where we've moved the needle
Culture Transformation - Integrated O&G
Core Challenge
Refinery fire exposed cultural and process safety gaps across the enterprise.
HRG Intervention
- Enterprise-wide culture & leadership evaluation
- Embed HRO principles (questioning attitude, leadership discipline, process safety focus)
Tangible Results
- Lower incident rates; stronger metrics
- Leadership mindset shift toward reliability
Rapid Culture Change - Canadian Refinery (130 kbd)
Core Challenge
New GM needed rapid culture change before a major turnaround.
HRG Intervention
- Cultural & leadership assessment
- Design & rollout of an Operational Excellence Management System
- Hands-on turnaround planning support
Tangible Results
- HRO behaviors embedded
- Improved turnaround safety & efficiency
Field Logistics Efficiency - West Texas Upstream
Core Challenge
Inefficient scheduling caused ~$10M/yr productivity loss.
HRG Intervention
- Targeted HRO coaching
- Revamped logistics processes
Tangible Results
- 50% scheduling cycle-time improvement in 3 months
- Major cost savings
Production Uplift - Canadian Upstream Business Unit
Core Challenge
Production shortfalls driven by weak leadership coaching in HRO methods.
HRG Intervention
- Customized HRO evaluations and leader development.
Tangible Results
- Thirty percent production uplift.
- Twenty five percent cut in maintenance and commissioning costs.
Offshore Fleet Benchmark - International Deep Water Platforms, Gulf of America
Core Challenge
Underperformance across multiple offshore assets.
HRG Intervention
- HRO based operational excellence training and coaching.
Tangible Results
- Twenty percent productivity gain, new benchmark for the fleet.
Insights
Practical notes from nuclear-grade operations
Leadership
How to Build Trust Without Lowering the Bar
Creating Psychological Safety in High-Reliability Organizations
Operations
How to Build a Learning Organization
Talent
How to Build the Right Leadership from the Start
About
High Reliability Group (HRG) is a boutique consultancy that helps executive teams in high risk, high consequence industries prevent major incidents while building disciplined, high-performance operations. Founded by former U.S. Nuclear Navy leaders and industry operators, we translate the rigor, culture, and human factors discipline of Rickover’s Nuclear Navy into practical systems your teams can run every day, without adding bureaucracy or slowing the work.
We partner with senior leaders across energy, chemicals, manufacturing, maritime, utilities, and critical infrastructure. Typical engagements combine a Rapid Operational Assessment for immediate clarity, leadership coaching grounded in human factors methods, and the design/embedding of an Operational Excellence Management System (tiered daily management, leader standard work, visual control, PDCA). The result: fewer human error events, tighter variability, faster learning loops, and stable throughput where it matters most – at the point of work.
Our approach is deliberately hands-on and sequenced. We start with you on the job to establish a baseline and quick wins, then move to targeted interventions that close critical gaps, and finally institutionalize new habits through role-based playbooks, observation and coaching, and a transparent 30/60/90 plan with clear owners. We focus leaders on repeatable behaviors: pre-task briefs, cross checks, speak-up norms, just culture responses, so safety and performance are inseparable in daily decisions.
HRG is led by Founder & President Bob Koonce, a former U.S. Submarine Force commanding officer and co-author of Extreme Operational Excellence: Applying the U.S. Nuclear Submarine Culture to Your Organization. Bob and the team of senior submarine veterans, human-factors experts, and experienced industry executives, bring decades of leadership under pressure and a track record of turning reliability principles into measurable business results.
If you’re seeking fewer surprises, stronger leadership, and performance that holds under pressure, HRG is your partner. Let’s align on your objectives and build a clear, tailored path to high reliability, one your teams can execute starting now.
Leadership
Operational Excellence
Human Performance
Bob Koonce, Founder & President
Bob Koonce is the Founder & President of High Reliability Group and a former Commanding Officer in the U.S. Submarine Force (USS KEY WEST, SSN 722). With 20+ years in nuclear-powered operations, he led teams where precision, human factors, and accountability were non-negotiable. In 2016, he founded HRG to help civilian organizations apply those same high reliability standards to prevent major incidents and elevate performance.
He is co-author of Extreme Operational Excellence: Applying the U.S. Nuclear Submarine Culture to Your Organization, a practical playbook for leaders who want uncompromising standards without bureaucracy. The book distills Rickover-era principles: clear ownership, procedural discipline, relentless self-assessment, and psychologically safe learning, into tools leaders can use the next day.
Bob’s work is amplified by a senior team of submarine veterans, human-performance experts, and industry operators who turn principles into repeatable behaviors at the point of work. Together they coach leaders on the floor and embed processes so safety and performance become inseparable in daily decisions.
Extreme Operational Excellence
A practical guide to building high reliability from the U.S. Nuclear Submarine Force, co-authored by Bob Koonce.
“Extreme Operational Excellence: Applying the US Nuclear Submarine Culture to Your Organization, is one of the best books I have ever read. If you want to understand me and the way I work, read this book. If you want to understand how to really accomplish organizational excellence, read this book. If you want to understand why US Submariners are the way they are, read this book. Just read this book!”
What you’ll learn
Build a culture of uncompromising standards
Instill behaviors that prevent failure, anticipate risk, and drive sustainable improvement.
Lead with integrity and accountability
Practice relentless self-assessment
Enable teams to perform under pressure
Equip people with the mindset and tools to deliver without compromising safety or performance.
Team
our people
Meet Our Experienced Professionals
Bob Koonce
Bob served for over 20 years in the U.S. Submarine Force and retired from active duty as a Commander in 2011 after commanding USS KEY WEST (SSN 722), a nuclear submarine based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During Bob’s career in the Navy he served on five different fast attack submarines and deployed overseas conducting missions critical to national security. Since leaving active duty, Bob has been a consultant to large and small businesses primarily in the Energy Industry.
Kevin Mooney
Kevin has over 36 years of leadership and management experience in both private industry and the U.S. Navy. Over the past 16 years, he has held senior leadership positions in two large North American shipyards. Kevin had previously served for 20 years as a nuclear submarine officer in the US Navy. Kevin has guided numerous organizations through challenging circumstances including transformations, turnarounds and integration following acquisition.
Jeff Hedges
Jeff has over 40 years of experience in senior leadership roles in both the military and in industry. Jeff has worked in a variety of industries in operations and HES roles including at Chevron Corporation, a privately held environmental services company, in the pulp and paper industry, and in the DOE nuclear complex.
Bryan Lethcoe
Bryan has over 30 years of experience in the US Nuclear Submarine Force and in the Oil and Gas industry, supporting onshore and offshore pipeline integrity technology development, pipeline integrity consulting, offshore drilling technical audit and field support, and LNG technical audit and operational excellence. Bryan served in the US Navy for 20 years, both in the US Submarine Force and in various leadership and staff roles in the Navy Reserve, retiring with the rank of Commander.
Frank Gardner
Frank served 33 years in the Submarine Force and retired from active duty in 2018. During his career, Frank led the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program for 5 years as the Naval Reactors Command Master Chief.
He specialized in assisting leadership teams in implementing change to improve processes, performance, and reliability.
Juan Contreras
Juan served 20 years in the Naval Nuclear Power Program retiring in 2005. His sea service included tours on a guided missile cruiser and multiple aircraft carriers while serving as Reactor Controls Leading Chief Petty Officer. His shore duties included an instructor tour where he served as the Production Training Group Lead at the S8G training facility.
Scott Kimmel
With 40+ years in nuclear submarine operations, maintenance, and overhaul, Scott Kimmel brings uncommon depth in controlled-material work and large-scale execution. He served 21 years in the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Power Program - first enlisted, training sailors for the nuclear pipeline and serving at sea on submarines, then as a Limited Duty Officer overseeing maintenance across shipyards and submarine tenders. He earned a B.S. in Human Resource Management and an MBA, retiring from the Navy in 2004.
Scott’s specialty is the material rigor and assurance demanded by nuclear, SUBSAFE, and Level 1 work—manufacturing, welding, assembly, and testing—plus vendor coordination across the maritime industrial base, from raw materials through modular assemblies. He helps client leadership align people, processes, and suppliers to meet the most exacting quality, safety, and compliance standards, and to be ready for audits without heroics.
Degrees: B.S. Human Resource Management; M.B.A.
Bruce Talbot
Bruce served 31 years in the U.S. Navy Submarine Force retiring from active duty in 2012. During his career he was Reactor Controls Leading Chief Petty Officer and Engineering Department Master Chief on five fast attack submarines. He has also served in the nuclear repair department of a submarine tender, the staff of a Submarine Squadron and as a shipyard availability coordinator. His final position in the Navy was Command Master Chief of a Naval Reactors Training Facility.
Brian O'Neill
Brian served 22 years in Navy Nuclear Power and retired from active duty in 2009. He is a graduate of North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and earned his Master in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University. He served aboard a ballistic missile/special operations nuclear submarine and multiple nuclear and non-nuclear surface warfare ships. His shore assignments include an evaluator tour at a Nuclear Power Training Unit and as Force Personnel Officer at Commander Naval Surface Forces Atlantic.
Duncan Preston
Duncan has over 40 years of experience with the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program. He served 13 years enlisted and 15 years as a commissioned officer, retiring in 2008. He served on seven ships including a guided missile cruiser, two aircraft carriers, and four nuclear repair ships, including two submarine tenders forward deployed in Italy.
Duncan returned to federal service in 2011 where he held senior leadership positions at two of the Navy’s four public shipyards. As Detachment Director, he led two remote site detachments in San Diego, CA and Yokosuka, Japan supporting all Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers. In 2023 he accepted a special assignment at Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters in a high-profile position focused on improving Naval Shipyard performance.
In addition to the Navy’s Nuclear Power Training program, Radiological Controls Officer, and Quality Assurance Officer schools, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts from Excelsior College, a Master of Science in Global Leadership and Graduate Certificate of Project Management from University of San Diego, and a Master of Business Administration from University of Redlands.
Paul Zorgdrager
Paul brings over 30 years of executive operational and leadership experience in Western Canadian oil and gas operations. This broad upstream oil and gas experience ranges from drilling, completions, pipeline integrity, well operations, as well as complex plant operations. He has a deep and practical understanding of High Reliability Organization principles and the work it takes to build a culture of excellence based on the HRO principles.
Paul has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and recently gained a Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching from Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. Paul is based Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Dave Rossberg
Senior Consultant
Dave is a former U.S. Navy Submarine Warfare Officer with 15+ years in leadership, operations, and business strategy. He pairs hands-on technical credibility with executive-level consulting to strengthen leadership, culture, and operational discipline.
During seven years on active duty, Dave qualified as Officer of the Deck and Engineer on a fast-attack submarine and led multiple nuclear reactor operations divisions through two overseas deployments, complex maintenance periods, and operational nuclear inspections. As a Shift Engineer at the Navy Nuclear Power Training Unit (Charleston, SC), he oversaw training and certification for hundreds of officers and enlisted sailors entering the submarine and aircraft carrier fleets.
After active duty, Dave earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and joined L.E.K. Consulting, leading strategic growth and due diligence work for global industrial and energy clients. He later founded and ran a construction firm delivering renovation and upgrade projects for federal facilities nationwide, and subsequently launched a business strategy and leadership coaching firm focused on helping technical small-business owners build scalable, self-sustaining companies grounded in high-reliability principles.
At HRG, Dave helps executive teams drive sustainable performance improvement, elevate leadership capability, and build organizations that embody the High Reliability mindset.
Dave holds a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering (minor in Engineering Entrepreneurship) from Penn State and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Based in New York City, he volunteers with Bunker Labs and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families and serves with Hudson River Community Sailing, mentoring local high school students.
A High Reliability Organization is one that operates in environments where failures or errors can have severe consequences, yet retains very low rates of adverse events. It does so through deliberate leadership, a culture of safety and reliability (not just compliance), structured and formal processes, ongoing learning.