What’s it like working with Klaus?
Klaus works with community-based organizations, local public health and other governmental agencies, international NGOs, and industry across multiple continents.
The people he works with tend to say the same things: he listens before he acts, he shows up when it matters, and the partnerships he helps build actually last.
“I’ll be honest — when people from outside our community show up wanting to do health work in Black churches, my guard goes up. We’ve been through it before. Somebody gets a grant, they come in with their program already designed, they use our sanctuary for a photo op, and then they move on. Our people end up feeling used. So I pay attention to how someone enters the room.
Klaus entered differently. Back in 2017, when Houston was hosting the Cities Changing Diabetes Global Summit, he went to Brown Chapel AME — one of our historic congregations — and asked a church member to be the community voice that opened the whole summit. Not a health department official. Not a hospital executive. A church member. That told me something about how this man thinks.
After that, he pulled our AME churches into the Faith & Diabetes work, and what struck me was that he actually wanted to learn how our congregations operate before he started proposing anything. He sat with pastors. He asked about our church calendars, our traditions, what mattered to our members. He understood something that a lot of outside partners miss — in our churches, if the pastor doesn’t trust you, the congregation won’t engage. And if the congregation doesn’t engage, you’re just talking to yourself.
Then Klaus conceived the idea for the Southwest Houston FaithHealth Collaborative and went out and got it funded through the Episcopal Health Foundation. That brought our North Houston District AME churches to the table with faith leaders from other denominations, community clinics, and Harris Health — all working together to figure out what real collaboration between churches and health systems could look like. Not a flyer in the lobby. Not a one-time blood pressure screening. Something with roots.
Beyond any single initiative, Klaus has been invaluable as a connector for our churches. Most of our pastors don’t have relationships with public health departments or hospital systems — that’s just not our world. Klaus does. He has opened doors to public health departments, hospitals, and clinics across Harris County that our congregations would not have accessed on their own, and he knows how to bring those institutions to the table in a way that actually works for both sides.
Here’s what sets Klaus apart from most people I’ve worked with in health. He doesn’t look at our churches and see a convenient place to run somebody else’s program. He talks about houses of faith as ‘supersettings for prevention,’ and when he says it, he means it. He sees what we’ve always known — that our congregations are already doing the work of holding people together, body and soul. The trust is already in the building. Klaus didn’t come to build something from scratch. He came to build on what was already there, and he had the respect to say so.
And I should say — Klaus doesn’t just show up when it’s convenient. Our district has 20 churches, and church life doesn’t run on a Monday-through-Friday schedule. Klaus makes himself available evenings and weekends to support and guide our congregations. He’s on the phone with pastors at night, he’s at Saturday meetings, he’s there on Sundays when that’s what’s needed. That’s not something you can fake, and our pastors notice it. We have twice invited Klaus to speak on FaithHealth at our annual Texas Conference — he is one of very few leaders from outside the AME Church to receive that invitation. That should tell you how our clergy feel about him.
If you’re thinking about working with Klaus, here’s what I’d tell you: he shows up, and he keeps showing up. In communities where people have heard a lot of promises, that matters more than anything.”
“Working with Klaus has honestly changed the way I see stakeholder engagement and multi-sector partnerships. He doesn’t just give advice—he pushes me to think in new ways and see connections I would’ve missed. Because of Klaus, I’ve built stronger relationships and even connected directly with the top political leadership of Jakarta Province, which has opened doors I never imagined.
One of our biggest “aha” moments was realizing that partnerships aren’t just about getting people in the same room, but about shaping the conversation so everyone feels like part of the solution.
What really makes Klaus different is his mix of warmth, strategic thinking, and the knack for turning big ideas into real, tangible impact”.
— Fikriansyah bin Irman, Healthy Equity Lead, Novo Nordisk Indonesia
“Klaus’ expertise, networks, convening ability, tendency to think ‘outside the box’ and persistence were critical to Healthy Weight Partnership’s multi-year funded Family Weight Management Program (“FWMP”) work in Corpus Christi and Nueces County, Texas. Klaus supported the Public Health Department in their application for significant state 1115 waiver funding, helping them shortlist and select a partner (MEND Programs) and then co-developing one of the most ambitious cross-sector roll-out proposals of FWMPs in the USA to that point or since.
He worked tirelessly to persuade all stakeholders that the proposal was feasible – and almost an obligation to deliver, against the odds. When the funding application was successful, he played a formative role in shaping the collaboration and mobilizing it on the ground. Partners included the Texas Health and Human Services, Corpus Christi Nueces County Public Health Department, the City of Corpus Christi, the Catholic Charities Foundation and Diocese, the Corpus Christi Independent School District (ISD), Taft ISD, the Boys & Girls Club of Corpus Christi and the YMCA of Corpus Christi – as well a host of other local stakeholders and organizations from paediatricians and teachers to hospitals and schools and Parks and Rec facilities.
This was the one of more complex and ultimately successful local implementations of a FWMP that we are aware of to date in the USA. And it was successful: an approximate overall $7mil project that with preparation, training, recruitment activities and programs impacted more than 4500 children, family and community members across more than 30 sites in the county. Additionally, the project trained more than 200 leaders as childhood obesity allied health workforce members in CCNC.
Klaus applied a whole systems-thinking approach to the societal challenge of child obesity before this was widespread – and to greater effect than most. It was also a unique pleasure working with him!”
“I had the pleasure of working with Klaus Kroyer Madsen as my coach during the 2022 UNICEF Novo Nordisk Healthy Childhood Challenge. His mentoring style was characterized by remarkable patience and attentiveness. This was especially helpful as I was not very familiar with the health sector's project profiles and I don't speak English, which made the process more enjoyable. Klaus provided me with very valuable and strategic suggestions that were key to developing my proposal on healthy school environments, allowing it to qualify for the final stage. His feedback helped me structure my ideas and focus my project in an appropriate way.
Although my proposal was not selected in this edition of the competition, the experience of working with Klaus was extremely positive and allowed me to connect with different people. Beyond the results of the challenge, I was left with an excellent impression of him as a person and as a professional. Because of Klaus’ coaching, I am now able to engage with stakeholders in a different way, and more effectively work with partners from different sectors. Without a doubt, I would recommend his guidance to anyone looking for a dedicated and insightful coach”.
— Aldo González Barrera, Planning and Mobility Specialist, United Nations HABITAT Latin America and the Caribbean Region, and Secretary General, Pedestrian League, Mexico
Klaus is wonderful to work with. He’s knowledgeable, resourceful and brings good cheer to the work. He is always ready to go the extra mile to help make the work successful. He connects like-minded organizations and individuals to find support and opportunities for collaboration and continues to provide guidance throughout the process.
He introduced us to several funding opportunities and partners which made all the difference for our work. As a new initiative in Cities for Better Health - Philadelphia, our work towards restorative justice may not have moved forward without Klaus’ encouragement, guidance, identification of resources and direct connections to potential funders. He’s amazing in how much he cares, who he knows and how creative he can be. He has contacts in the US and other countries and is always willing to connect people who can help inform our work.
The real breakthrough from working with Klaus was him looking at multi-year funding and diverse sector collaborations which positioned our work for success from the very beginning. Now, several years later, we have grown our work, identified other funders with the background and early successes we were able to achieve and have spent several years evaluating our program to both show the benefits and also to advocate for change, based on what we have learned.
If you are considering working with Klaus, I would not hesitate to engage him for his winning personality, friendship and resourcefulness. He’s determined to help you find success”.
— Sandy Sherman, Nutrition Advisor, The Food Trust, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
“When Usina da Imaginação, the organization I run, was selected as a finalist for the UNICEF-Novo Nordisk Healthy Childhood Challenge, we had the good fortune to have Klaus Madsen as a coach and advisor. We had submitted a very unorthodox proposal -- using community filmmaking to transform the way that Brazilian indigenous people frame their traditional child-rearing, games, and nutrition — and Klaus gave us the tools to transform good ideas into a format and rhetoric that made sense to the funder. His contributions were essential to our victory in the challenge… but even more importantly, he taught us new ways to describe our work so that it makes sense to many funders.
I admire Klaus’ insight and intellect, his skill at cultivating the seeds of ideas into trees that funders can see and admire. He could hear a quick frase we passed over too fast and see how it could become the center of a convincing argument. But perhaps most important, his kindness, humor, and cultural sensitivity made the process work not just for us in Brazil, but for candidates in Africa and Asia as well. I highly recommend him as a coach, adviser, and human being”
— Kurt Shaw, Diretor Executivo, Usina da Imaginação, Florianópolis, Brazil
“Klaus was an astute mentor and coach for my team as we navigated the competitive Novo Nordisk Healthy Food Challenge. Together, we created an effective program to help mitigate barriers to healthy eating for young children in Cambodia with Klaus providing constructive feedback while listening to the local input and learning from the Cambodian team's on-the-ground experience working with children and their families”.
— Meredith Jackson-deGraffenried, MA, PhD, Regional Technical Advisor, Asia-Pacific, Helen Keller International
“Klaus is first and foremost a kind, bright and reliable fellow. I have know and worked with him for many years now, in an array of work situations.
He is a skilled designer of programs and projects; he has crafted and implemented bold public policy strategies; and he is a master networker and weaver of purposeful relationships.
His sheer likability and terrific sense of humor makes any encounter with Klaus a delight. I’d welcome Klaus in any project”.
— Tyler Norris, Visiting Scholar, Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Former Chief Executive, Well Being Trust and Chief Health Officer, Kaiser Permanente), Blaine County, Idaho
“Klaus is is deeply committed to community and population health improvement. I have worked with him on high-level, national projects that he and his staff managed very well. Klaus is very creative and innovative and has excellent interpersonal skills. He is trustworthy, consistent and reliable. He has strong quantitative and qualitative skills. I give Klaus my highest recommendation.”
— Deborah Bohr, Senior Director, HRET / American Hospital Association, Chicago, Illinois
“Klaus is an extremely knowledgeable health services researcher who was very supportive of me when I was writing an 8.5 million dollar grant proposal. Time after time he guided me when questions occurred. Besides being knowledgeable, he is very successful at special projects deployment. He has a wonderful caring approach with people that sustains business relationships for the long-term. ”
— Mari Tietze, President, Nursing Intelligence (formerly DFW Hospital Council Foundation), Fort Worth, Texas
“Klaus Madsen is one of the most dedicated professionals I have had the pleasure to work with. One of his greatest strengths is his vision. Another, his ability to bring the right people to the table to get things done! He is also passionate about issues around health and that passion generates energy and activity.”
— Michelle Smith, State Coordinator, Action for Healthy Kids, Austin, Texas