GEW - Health Care Professionals as Entrepreneurs

As we celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week-Sacramento, powered by Western Health Advantage, we are honored to bring you a panel of service-focused health care professionals who became entrepreneurs. This event is in partnership with the College of Health & Human Services at Sac State.

Entrepreneurship is about problem-solving to create value for others. The professionals on this panel are undeniably focused on problem-solving relative to health and human services and, as a result, they are improving and enriching the life experience of the people they serve. The panelists will discuss their experiences as health care professionals who became founders of their own businesses.

Our panel will include:

• Carolyn Ecker - Founder of Developmental Therapy Services of Sacramento
• Karen Fittinger - Founder of Bright Star Therapies, Sacramento and Roseville
• Leigh Langerwerf - Founder of Butte Premier Physical Therapy in Chico

The panel will be moderated by Abhijeet Shirsat, Assistant Professor, College of Health & Human Services.

About the Panelists:

Carolyn Ecker

Carolyn Ecker graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CA with a Bachelor's in Biology. She then earned her Master of Occupational Therapy from Samuel Merritt College in Oakland, CA. Since graduating in 1997, Carolyn has had experience in multiple settings including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, schools and home-based services. Her primary area of practice has been pediatrics for the last 16+ years.

Carolyn started Developmental Therapy Services of Sacramento in 2003. It started as a small private practice with just Carolyn. In 2021, the company continued to expand by adding on speech and feeding therapy services and changing their name to Developmental Therapy Services of Sacramento (DTS of Sac). Now DTS of Sac is a company with 13 clinicians ready to provide occupational, speech, and feeding services to the greater Sacramento area!

Karen Fittinger

Karen Fittinger graduated with her Masters of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology from California State University, Sacramento in 2002. The following year in 2003, she opened Bright Start Therapies, a pediatric clinic with locations in Sacramento and Roseville California, specializing in speech-language and occupational therapy for children of all ages. She had three primary goals: (1) have facilities that were bright, clean, child-friendly and family-centered; (2) create a multidisciplinary team of highly-trained, exceptional, and compassionate therapists who prioritize a child’s needs based on the family’s core beliefs and values; and most importantly, (3) empower parents because they know their child’s individual needs best. She believes this has been the reason behind her company’s success. Bright Start Therapies has been in the community for over 15 years. Their motto has always been “Let’s Grow Together.”

Leigh Langerwerf

Leigh Langerwerf received a DPT from the University of Southern California in 2004. In 2007, he opened Butte Premier Physical Therapy in Chico, California. The clinic has grown to a practice with six PT’s and one PTA. In addition to orthopedic physical therapy, his clinic provides aquatic physical therapy and immediate post-operative care at the adjacent outpatient surgery center. His clinic is located next door to a practice of 10 orthopedic surgeons, as well as a pain management clinic with two physicians, which allows for a lot of interdisciplinary collaboration. He passed his Orthopedic Clinical Specialist exam in 2012 and received fellow status in the American Academy of Orthopaedic and Manual Physical Therapists in 2014. He has been a district chair and treasurer for California Physical Therapy Association and is on a number of committees and work groups at a local, state and national level. He is currently working on his DSc through Bellin College with an anticipated graduation date of December 2023.

If you are interested in learning about additional events, workshops, and panel discussions check the full list of activities HERE.