42 healthcare chief experience officers to know | 2022

Patients expect a personalized healthcare journey and elevated experience as they take on more responsibility for their care.

 

Hospitals and health systems across the U.S. are appointing executive team members to focus on patient satisfaction and experience as a differentiator in their market. The best chief experience officers consider all aspects of patients' care, in-person and virtual, as they design systems and build teams to deliver excellent services. 

 

Here are 42 chief experience officers of hospitals and health systems who are leading the charge. 

 

 

Jennifer Jasmine Arfaa, PhD. Chief Experience Officer and Vice President of Patient Experience at UC Health (Cincinnati). Dr. Arfaa has held her role since 2018. She previously served in leadership roles covering patient experience and service improvement for Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia and Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore.

 

Ron Baker. Vice President of Physician Enterprise at AdventHealth Kansas City (Kan.). Mr. Baker was recently appointed to his position in November 2021 after serving as CEO of St. Mary's Medical Center in Blue Springs, Mo. He also previously served as the chief patient experience officer at Saint Luke's Health System in Kansas City, Mo. 

 

Steve Basilotto. Chief Experience Officer at Froedtert Health (Milwaukee). Mr. Basilotto has more than 30 years of experience driving innovation through a people-centric approach in combination with technology and analytics. He also has direct-to-consumer experience in financial services, health insurance and technology. He is described as having an emotionally intuitive and collaborative leadership style. 

 

Vishal Bhalla. Senior Vice President and Chief Experience Officer at Atrium Health (Charlotte, N.C.). Mr. Bhalla was appointed to his position in 2021 as the health system's first chief experience officer. He also serves as the chief human resources officer for Atrium Health Navicent. He serves on the patient experience board for the Beryl Institute, a research group dedicated to enhancing the patient experience in healthcare. He is also an editorial board member of the Patient Experience Journal.

 

Steve Bird, MD. Clinician Experience Officer at UMass Memorial Healthcare and Professor of Emergency Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School (Worcester, Mass.). Mr. Bird has held his position with UMass Memorial Healthcare since 2019 and has been a professor with UMass Chan Medical School for 19 years. He previously served as director of the school's emergency medicine residency and the vice chair of education.

 

Adrienne Boissy, MD. Chief Experience Officer at Cleveland Clinic. Before becoming the hospital's chief experience officer, Ms. Boissy was the medical director of its Center of Excellence in Healthcare Communication. Her team is credited with creating a program to strengthen physician and provider communication skills throughout the hospital and training more than 4,000 staff physicians and staff to date. She also helped develop the patient advisory councils across the Cleveland Clinic Health System and is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Patient Experience.

 

Michelle Brady. Chief Experience Officer at MidMichigan Health (Midland). Ms. Brady has served MidMichigan Health for more than 32 years. She started off in the role of director of nursing before becoming chief experience officer in 2020. 

 

Lara Burnside. Chief Experience Officer of JPS Health Network (Fort Worth, Texas). Ms. Burnside has worked in the healthcare industry for 25 years, with a focus on improving employee and patient experience. In her current role, she works to create a space to achieve employee engagement and partners with the chief medical officer to reduce clinician burnout and improve well-being. Before working at JPS, she was a consultant for healthcare organizations.

 

Jessica Castle. Chief Experience and Marketing Officer of Phoebe Putney Health System (Albany, Ga.). Ms. Castle came to the health system over seven years ago, first as vice president of marketing, public relations and business development. She previously worked as the senior director of marketing for Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare.

 

Lindsay Caulfield. Chief Marketing and Experience Officer of Grady Health (Atlanta). Ms. Caulfield came to Grady Health in 2012. She previously worked at public relations agency Cohn & Wolfe as executive vice president. In her career, she has built and led integrated marketing communications programs, public relation initiatives and strategic planning for Fortune 500 companies.

 

Nick Colovos, MD, Chief Experience Officer of BayCare Medical Group (Tampa, Fla.). Mr. Colovos has more than 20 years of experience as a physician and is board-certified in emergency medicine. He previously was chief quality officer at Emory Physician Group Practices. He became a faculty member of Emory University School of Medicine in 2014. 

 

Nancy Corcoran-Davidoff, Executive Vice President, Chief Experience Officer of the Office of the Human Experience at Hackensack (N.J.) Meridian Health Network. Ms. Corcoran-Davidoff was previously the executive vice president and chief human resources and internal communications officer of Hackensack University Health Network. She has more than 25 years of leadership experience and is a recipient of the YWCA TWIN Award and Planetree Spirit of Caring Award. 

 

Mary Cramer, Executive Director, Organizational Effectiveness and Chief Experience Officer of Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston). Ms. Cramer oversees internal consultants who focus on service improvement and organizational performance. She previously was director of performance excellence at New York City-based NewYork- Presbyterian Hospital. 

 

Marsha Davis. Chief Experience Officer of MidColumbia Medical Center (The Dalles, Ore.). After joining MidColumbia Medical Center in 2006 as director of volunteer services, Ms. Davis was appointed chief experience officer. Ms. Davis has a wealth of volunteering experience with organizations such as the American Cancer Society and Celilo Cancer Center.

 

Lisa Drumbore. Vice President of  Marketing Communication and Chief Experience Officer of Saint Peter's Healthcare System (New Brunswick, N.J.). Ms. Drumbore joined St. Peter's Healthcare in 2001 as director of service excellence, a role in which she served 15 years. She was appointed vice president and chief experience officer of the system in May 2016.

 

Rene Dumont. Chief Patient Experience Officer of St. Mary's Health System (Lewison, Maine). Mr. Dumont has over 20 years in leadership experience and was appointed St. Mary's Health System's first chief patient experience officer in September 2019. In this role, he leads efforts to improve the experiences of the system's patients and family members and also oversees its Albert Lepage Center for Patient Experience. 

 

Michelle Edwards, DNP, Chief Experience Officer of Providence (Renton, Wash.). Dr. Edwards has served as the inaugural chief experience officer at Providence, ​​which operates 51 hospitals and nearly 1,100 clinics in seven states, since January 2021. She is responsible for modernizing and differentiating the patient experience with a focus on patient digital access and navigation. Before joining Providence, she served as enterprise senior vice president and national executive lead for advanced practice at CommonSpirit Health. 

 

Rick Evans. Senior Vice President, Chief Experience Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian. Mr. Evans is responsible for overseeing NewYork-Presbyterian’s efforts to enhance patient experience across the continuum of care, and developing and implementing strategies to increase patient satisfaction. He previously served as chief experience officer at Massachusetts General Hospital for four years. 

 

Drew Fennell. Chief Communications and Experience Officer of ChristianaCare (Wilmington, Del.). Ms. Fennell joined ChristianaCare in 2017 after serving as chief of staff for Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. As the system's chief communications and experience officer, Ms. Fennell is responsible for leading communications strategy and philanthropic efforts in alignment with the system's aims. She also serves as senior adviser to the system's president and CEO. 

 

Heather Geisler. Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing, Communications and Experience Officer of Henry Ford Health System (Detroit). Ms. Geisler was appointed to her current positions in 2021. She provides leadership on brand strategy and consumer experience. Ms. Geisler has previously served at SS+K,  a New York City marketing and advertising agency, where she led efforts in support of initiatives by former first lady Michelle Obama. She was named among Hospitality Management magazine's "30 Most Influential Women in Hospitality" in 2018. 

 

Sven Gierlinger. Chief Experience Officer of Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Mr. Gierlinger is in charge of creating an engaging, innovative and collaborative culture aimed at  driving organizational growth for Northwell Health. Prior to serving as chief experience officer, Mr. Gierlinger was vice president of Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System.

 

Mendy Goonan. Chief Experience Officer of Central Maine Healthcare (Lewiston). In her role, Ms. Goonan oversees patient experience, spiritual care, volunteer services and language services departments. She also leads a cross functional system taskforce to improve team member well-being.

 

Keith Gran. Chief Patient Experience Officer of University of Michigan Health System (Ann Arbor). Mr. Gran joined U-M Health in 2015 and has more than 20 years of experience in academic healthcare. Prior to his role at U-M Health, Mr. Gran served as chief operating officer for the University of Miami Medical Group.

 

Vivian Greenfogel. Vice President and Chief Patient Experience Officer of Crozer Health (Springfield, Pa.). Ms. Greenfogel stepped into her role as vice president and chief patient experience officer in May 2021, after serving as patient experience officer with the health system. She has more than 30 years of experience in physician and employee engagement and patient experience.  

 

Pam Guler. Vice President and Chief Experience Officer of AdventHealth (Altamonte Springs, Fla.). In her role, Ms. Guler provides mentorship to leadership teams on how to deploy the best practices for sustaining and improving patient experience. She has spent more than 11 years in patient experience and engagement, physician and team member engagement, hospital administration, performance improvement and service line development.

 

Kevin Gwin. Chief Patient Experience Officer of University of Missouri Health Care (Columbia). Mr. Gwin is in charge of gathering and responding to patients' feedback, preferences and ideas in order to provide improved patient experiences across University of Missouri's hospitals and clinics. Prior to his role at MU Health Care, Mr. Gwin served as vice president of patient experience and communications for Nashville, Tenn.-based Ardent Health Services. 

 

Suzy Jaeger. Chief Patient Experience and Access Officer at Children's Hospital Colorado (Aurora). Ms. Jaeger provides operational management and direction to Children's Hospital Colorado system's inpatient, emergency department and urgent care services as well as its outpatient clinical practice operations for the Anschutz Medical Campus. Before her current role, she served as senior vice president of ambulatory services.

 

Lara Klick. Vice President and Chief Patient Experience Officer at Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital. Ms. Klick has served in healthcare for almost three decades. Before joining Tampa General, she served as director of service excellence at Howard County General Hospital in Columbia, Md. She also spent 10 years at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, serving as director of guest relations and volunteer services.

 

Wren Lester, PhD. Senior Experience Officer at SUNY at Downstate Health Sciences University (New York City). Dr. Lester is no stranger to leadership. Before her current role, she served as associate vice president of patient experience at Planned Parenthood in New York City and as corporate director of performance improvement and strategy at RWJBarnabas Health in West Orange, N.J.

 

Scott Macicek, MD. Chief Experience Officer at Children's Hospital New Orleans. Dr. Macicek serves as chief experience officer at Children's Hospital New Orleans. Before his time at Children's Hospital New Orleans, he served at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. Dr. Macicek is board certified in pediatrics, pediatric cardiology and adult congenital heart disease, and he is certified as a pediatric electrophysiologist by the International Board of Heart Rhythm Examiners.

 

Dwight McBee, BSN. Executive Vice President of Health Equity and Chief Experience Officer at Jefferson Health (Philadelphia). Mr. McBee stepped into his current role as Jefferson Health's chief experience officer in Feb. 2021, and before that he served in a similar role at Philadelphia-based Temple University Health System for more than four years. Prior to his time at Temple, he served in various roles at Atlantic City, N.J.-based Atlanticare.

 

Linda McHugh. Executive Vice President and Chief Experience and People Officer at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). Prior to her role at Hackensack Meridian Health, Ms. McHugh served for 35 years at the Cleveland Clinic in roles including executive director of the office of the CEO, assistant secretary to the board of trustees and division administrator of thoracic and cardiac surgery affiliates, regional surgery. Ms. McHugh also served as an administrator for the rehabilitation medicine and spine center, vascular surgery and vascular medicine, and research institute for cell biology and neuroscience.

 

Steve Meth. Chief Experience Officer at Nuvance Health (Danbury, Conn.). Mr. Meth has served as Nuvance Health's chief experience officer since January 2020. Prior to that, he served in a similar role for more than four years at Prime Healthcare Services in Ontario, Calif. Mr. Meth was previously the director of patient experience at UC Davis Health in Sacramento, Calif., and a patient satisfaction principal analyst at UC San Diego Health.

 

Sue Murphy. Chief Experience Officer at Northwest Community Healthcare (Arlington Heights, Ill.). Ms. Murphy is an innovative leader with deep expertise in hospital operations, patient experience, staff development and change management that inspires teamwork across disciplines. Prior to taking up her current role at Northwest Community Healthcare in February 2022, she was the chief experience officer at UChicago Medicine and before  that was the director of patient experience at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Ill. 

 

Shweta Ponnappa. Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Experience Officer at Providence (Renton, Wash.). Under Ms. Ponnappa's leadership, Providence has developed and implemented innovative, powerful digital customer experiences, including founding and overseeing the digital marketing function of the system as well as implementing its digital front door, Express Care. Prior to joining the system in October 2017, she was head of marketing and merchandising at Amazon. 

 

Marianne Rowan-Braun. Chief Patient Experience Officer at UCLA Health (Los Angeles). With more than 25 years of leadership experience, Ms. Rowan-Braun currently leads the assessment and execution of UCLA Health's patient experience and engagement programs. Before she took on her role at UCLA in September 2018, she was president and CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Baltimore and vice president of patient experience at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. 

 

Kirsten Royster. President, COO and Patient Experience Officer at Novant Health Kernersville (N.C.) Medical Center. Ms. Royster has 20 years’ experience in operations, strategic planning, program development, patient experience and consultative engagements. She joined the system in August 2005 and in that time has demonstrated success in positioning people, processes and technology.

 

Eugene Scioscia Jr., MD. Chief Experience Officer at Allegheny Health Network (Pittsburgh). Dr. Scioscia has been at Allegheny for more than 30 years in a range of leadership roles. In his current position, he oversees construction of a systemwide culture of service excellence and superior patient communication, working closely with clinicians, hospital and institute leadership and front-line staff across the network to meet and exceed patient and employee expectations. He also serves as vice chairman of clinical operations for the department of obstetrics and gynecology.

 

Amy Searls. Chief Experience Officer at Prime Healthcare (Ontario, Calif.). Ms. Searls oversees and is responsible for all patient experience activities in 46 hospitals across the country. Since starting at the system in May 2020, she has led a company effort to focus on mental health and wellness and created a coaching program. Previously, she was executive director of patient experience at UCHealth.

 

Julie Spencer Washington. Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing, Communications and Experience Officer at Trinity Health (Livonia, Mich.). Ms. Spencer Washington has 30 years of experience in strategic marketing, brand building and digital communications. She also serves as a board trustee at Union Institute & University in Cincinnati and Women Helping Women, an organization that supports survivors of gender-based violence in higher education.

 

 

Charleen Tachibana, DNP, RN. Senior Vice President and Chief Quality, Safety and Patient Experience Officer at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (Seattle). Dr. Tachibana provides strategic and operational accountability for clinical quality, safety and the patient experience for the Pacific Northwest Division of CommonSpirit Health. Her leadership can be seen throughout the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health system, which includes 11 hospitals and nearly 300 locations.

 

Tom Tull. Vice President and Chief Experience Officer at Ballad Health (Johnson City, Tenn.). Mr. Tull has served at Ballad Health for more than 30 years. Before his current role, he served as the health system's senior executive coach of organizational development and service excellence.