The Person Behind ELEVATE PX

I’m Natalie McKay, the event manager of The Beryl Institute’s annual conference, ELEVATE PX. I’ve had the privilege of serving our patient experience community and working alongside our team for over ten years in a variety of roles. What I love best about being able to lead the planning of ELEVATE PX is connecting with everyone in every step, whether team members and volunteers or hotel staff and session speakers. It brings me extreme joy to go above and beyond to meet everyone’s needs as best as I can.

Focus on family

When I’m not serving the ELEVATE PX community, I answer to my two tiny bosses: Kennedy (6) and Kellen (2). As the mom of little ones, I am truly in the season of daycare drop-off, packing lunches, play dates, after-school activities, and the school car line pick-up. No one ever told me how much time you would spend in the car as a parent!

My other favorite role is being a wife. My marriage to Heath is an “opposites-attract” love story: the studious editor-in-chief of the yearbook and the starting point guard of the basketball team. Heath and I will celebrate 11 years together this August.

Favorite Pastimes: Travel and Sports

Heath and I both love to travel. We often like to travel to the beach, like Cancun (where we got married) or to the big city, like NYC, where we can eat and shop all day. We also are a big sports family. I’m from the Dallas Fort Worth area and Heath is from Oklahoma, so we root for OKC Thunder, Dallas Cowboys, and Oklahoma State Cowboys (Go Pokes!).

On being a “Foodie”…

If you consider trying new restaurants and recipes a hobby, then it’s definitely mine. I’m the person who will look over the whole menu (including pictures, thanks to Yelp) before I get to the restaurant. I like keeping up with up-and-coming restaurants and appreciate all cuisines. I’m also the person who reads all the comments and reviews of recipes before I try to make them myself. Taking into consideration my official title at the Institute, I’m the friend who plans the girls nights and baby showers. It’s a fun blend of both my professional and personal life.

Alone Time

When not working or caring for my family, you will find me reading… A LOT. I read books insanely fast and can stay up all night reading if I could. Since the start of this year, I’ve finished 45 books, ranging from fantasy, like Fourth Wing, and mystery, like The Only One Left. But my favorite genre is rom-com, like Part of Your World. I love going to the library and prefer to only read books I can check out. I’m in a working moms book club, and it’s my favorite thing I’ve been a part of since I’ve embraced this book-nerd life. My ‘to read’ list is constantly growing! 

Hope to see you all in Las Vegas at ELEVATE PX 2025!