Designing a Safety Operating Model: How Leaders Build Strategies for Reliable Safety Performance
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Summary
When Ellis Jones and Nathaniel “Safety Nate” Miller began comparing their experiences leading safety in complex organizations, they quickly recognized a shared concern: many organizations lack a clear operating model for how safety decisions are made, governed, and sustained over time. As a result, even well-intentioned safety efforts often become fragmented, inconsistent, and difficult to defend at the leadership level
In this master class, Ellis Jones introduces the Safety Operating Model and explains how its three pillars – Structure, Environment, and Capability – work together as an integrated operating model rather than a collection of disconnected initiatives. Nate Miller joins the conversation to explore how leaders apply this framework in practice to strengthen governance, align decision-making, and sustain reliable safety performance.
The session focuses on how leaders implement this model in practice, applying it consistently across board, executive, and operational levels to support sound judgment, visible accountability, and reliable safety performance in complex, high-risk environments.
In this session, you will learn:
- How Structure, Environment, and Capability function together as a single Safety Operating Model
- Why safety performance breaks down when pillars are improved in isolation rather than governed as a system
- How strategy and governance shape culture by aligning people around a shared definition of success
- Where data, digitization, and emerging technologies belong within an operating model, not as standalone solutions
- How to assess safety maturity through an operating-system lens and identify where leadership intervention is required
Speakers
Ellis Jones
Executive Director - Safety Innovations
Rhythm Innovations
Ellis brings extensive business expertise with a background spanning accounting, finance, manufacturing operations, sustainability EHS, and business continuity. Throughout his career, Ellis excelled in revitalizing underperforming teams and operations, leveraging his leadership, business acumen, and diverse competencies to drive consistent business improvement.
In his former role as, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Ellis led the integration of sustainability into corporate strategy resulting in the creation of Goodyear’s first sustainable material tire and rapid sustainability maturity. Additionally, Ellis oversaw environmental, health, safety, and business continuity, guiding Goodyear through a safety culture transformation focused on the elimination of serious injuries. Ellis also led Goodyear through the COVID-19 pandemic. During this unprecedented time, Ellis’ leadership was recognized for its impact on operational effectiveness and employee engagement.
Prior to his role as VP and CSO, Ellis served as Manufacturing Director for race tire operations, achieving a 55% earnings improvement through implementing operational excellence strategies. His leadership earned recognition from the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME), resulting in the organization receiving the AME Excellence Award.
Ellis’ early career includes leading finance and accounting teams across various functions and businesses including Manufacturing, Purchasing, Supply Chain and Goodyear’s Commercial Tire business. Ellis provided strong financial leadership and fostered a high-performance culture within his teams.
Ellis holds a BS in Accounting from Hampton University and a Masters in Operational Excellence from Ohio State University. Ellis earned his coaching credentials from Case Western Reserve University.
Nathaniel "Safety Nate" Miller
Vice President - Center of Excellence
Rhythm Innovations
Nathaniel “Safety Nate” Miller is a recognized voice in enterprise safety leadership, with more than 25 years of experience leading integrated risk strategies across Environmental Health & Safety (EHS), security, sustainability, and business continuity. As Vice President of the Center of Excellence at Rhythm Innovations, he helps organizations strengthen safety governance, align operational systems with business strategy, and build resilient cultures that protect people while driving measurable performance improvement.
Over the course of his career, Nate has held senior leadership roles with organizations including Gordon Food Service, United Technologies, Schindler Elevator Company, and SCANA Energy. In these roles, he has led large-scale transformations across complex, multi-national operations – advancing ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 adoption, modernizing EHS technology platforms, strengthening Process Safety Management programs, and implementing integrated risk frameworks that connect frontline safety activity with executive decision-making.
Known for his ability to translate complex risk environments into clear, actionable systems, Nate focuses on turning safety from a compliance obligation into a strategic capability that strengthens operational excellence, workforce engagement, and long-term resilience. His leadership approach blends systems thinking, data-driven governance, and a deeply human commitment to protecting people and organizations.
A sought-after keynote speaker and thought leader, Nate is also the author of Fix the Pond: Leadership That Prevents Failure, Protects People, and Builds Resilient Systems, where he explores how leaders can design environments where safety, accountability, and performance reinforce one another.
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