Yellow Brick Consulting has joined CannonDesign's consulting platform, further strengthening our ability to drive impact for the nation’s leading healthcare organizations. This strategic acquisition significantly bolsters CannonDesign’s growing suite of consulting services and, together with the expertise of Blue Cottage of CannonDesign, establishes the largest and most experienced healthcare transition and activation consulting team in North America. 

Moving forward, Yellow Brick will retain its name and remain focused on bringing its renowned clinical expertise and services to clients globally. Kelly Guzman, Yellow Brick founder and CEO, will continue to lead the nearly 70-person transition and activation team.   

Since 2018, Yellow Brick has built an impressive portfolio in transition and activation planning. Together, the team has guided hundreds of health systems through every phase of activation for new or renovated facilities. From early planning through construction, staff preparation, patient safety protocols and a seamless transition into fully operational healthcare environments, Kelly and her team have championed industry standards and knowledge sharing.  

In 2020, Yellow Brick leaders authored the book, “Simplifying the Complex: A Guide to Transition and Activation Planning for Healthcare Construction Projects,” which is regarded as the foremost guide on the subject. 

“The team Kelly has built is exceptional. Their reputation as a valuable partner to leading healthcare systems is admirable. We are so proud to welcome them to the firm,” explained Juliet Rogers, PHD, MPH, Blue Cottage of CannonDesign President and CannonDesign Chief Strategy Officer. “Kelly and I have been professional colleagues for many years and to me, there is nothing greater than two leading firms coming together to offer the best services in the country. No one works harder than healthcare workers and we exist to help them every step of the way from early project visioning to the day they open the doors and beyond.” 

Among Yellow Brick’s current and past clients are some of the most prominent names in healthcare, including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Penn Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, UPMC, Rush University Medical Center, Stanford Health Care – Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Northwell Health, Keck Medicine of USC, UC San Diego Health and UC Davis Health, along with numerous others. The Yellow Brick team recently led the transition and activation on several recent projects designed by CannonDesign, including North Shore University Hospital’s Petrocelli Surgical Pavilion and Children Hospital of Orange County’s new Outpatient and Research Tower. 

In addition to transition and activation, the Yellow Brick team includes specialists in behavioral health, women’s health, emergency medicine, pediatrics, oncology, inpatient and surgical care, healthcare operations and more. Their licensing and regulatory compliance services introduce new capabilities to our firm and clients.  

Yellow Brick’s expertise aligns seamlessly with that of Blue Cottage of CannonDesign. Blue Cottage is our consultancy known for shaping what’s next across strategy, operations, experience and environments — and for its strong record of leadership in healthcare transition and activation. Our firm’s combined clinical planning team now consists of over 50 clinically prepared professionals, including several physicians, 39 nurses and specialists trained in behavioral health, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, rehab, sterile processing and laboratory science.  

“Yellow Brick has always been committed to delivering unparalleled expertise to our healthcare clients. This acquisition makes our ability to fulfill our mission even stronger with a broader bench of resources and subject matter experts to support our work,” said Kelly Guzman, RN, FAAN, Founder and CEO of Yellow Brick. “New opportunities for impact, novel ways to reimagine healthcare for the better, exciting pathways our teammates and clients can seize for the future — that’s what joining forces with CannonDesign and working alongside Blue Cottage makes possible, and we couldn't be more excited to show you what this next chapter has in store for the healthcare design world.” 

The addition of Yellow Brick builds on CannonDesign’s strategic growth trajectory and further deepens our comprehensive expertise in healthcare. We’ve partnered with every hospital on the U.S. News Best Hospitals Honor Roll and are consistently ranked among the world’s leading healthcare design firms. Today, we’re shaping some of the most transformative projects in the field, including UChicago Medicine’s AbbVie Foundation Cancer Pavilion, the Kenneth C. Griffin Pavilion at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the transformation of Mayo Clinic’s Rochester campus.