The chief nursing officers and executives at health systems across the U.S. have spent the last two years leading clinical teams through the pandemic.
Their tireless leadership and efforts to continue providing quality care while caring for their nursing teams during the stressful periods of COVID-19 surges has been truly impressive. The nurses featured on this list are strong leaders who have built a strong culture of quality, patient safety and caregiver wellness at their organizations.
Note: This list was developed to highlight chief nursing officers across the U.S. Contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com with questions or comments. Click here to view nomination forms for future lists.
Naomi Diaz, Cailey Gleeson, Georgina Gonzalez, Riz Hatton, Marcus Robertson, Marissa Plescia and Ariana Portalatin contributed to the development of this list.
Debra Albert, DNP. CNO of NYU Langone Health (New York City). Dr. Albert has been with NYU Langone Health since April 2020. She oversees the nursing staff for the health system, which includes six inpatient locations and a large network of outpatient clinics and services. The health system earned top rankings in patient safety and quality of care from Vizient for the past eight years, and in 2021 was recognized as a top performer in the Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership annual ranking. Before her current role, she served as the senior vice president and CNO of UChicago Medicine.
Dianne Aroh, RN. Senior Vice President and CNO of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. Ms. Aroh brought 25 years of leadership experience to Virginia Mason Franciscan Health when she joined the system as senior vice president and CNO in November 2021. She previously served as executive vice president and chief clinical and patient care officer at Hackensack (N.J.) University Medical Center, which was among the first hospitals in the U.S. to receive the Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence. Ms. Aroh is also an American College of Healthcare Executives fellow.
Dale Beatty, DNP, RN. Vice President of Patient Care Services and CNO of Stanford (Calif.) Health Care. Dr. Beatty has been with Stanford Health Care for five years, overseeing a team of nurses. He has more than 20 years of experience in nurse leadership roles, including programs that earned the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. He was recognized as one of U.S. News & World Report's "Top 15 Hospital Chief Nursing Officers" in 2021 and is a board member for the Association of California Nurse Leaders.
Kathleen Bechtel, MSN, RN. Vice President of Patient Care Services and CNO of Froedtert Health (Milwaukee). Ms. Bechtel leads Froedtert Hospital's inpatient and outpatient nursing practice of more than 2,000 nurses. Her responsibilities include overseeing strategy, quality, growth and finance within the nursing program. Before her current role, she was the director of nursing critical care and progressive care at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minn.
Carol Biggs. Senior Vice President and CNO of Jackson Health System (Miami). Dr. Biggs served as the CNO of Jackson Memorial Hospital for nearly four years before taking on her current role as senior vice president and chief nursing executive of Jackson Health System in February 2021. She oversees nursing operations for the health system, which includes six hospitals, a network of urgent care centers, two long-term nursing facilities, and multiple primary and specialty care centers. She received her doctor of health science degree from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Nova Southeastern University.
Melva Bostik, BSN, RN. CNO of Cleveland (Okla.) Area Hospital. Ms. Bostik organizes nursing workflows, equipment purchases, and policies and procedures for all nurses in the medical-surgical and emergency departments. She also leads development of new service lines and the hospital's EHR. She has more than 40 years of nursing experience, more than 20 of which were spent at Cleveland Area Hospital.
Kathy Bressler, MSN. COO and CNO of CHI Health (Omaha, Neb.). Ms. Bressler has been with CHI Health for more than five years. CHI Health has 14 hospitals, two stand-alone behavioral health facilities and more than 150 employed physician practice locations. She is also a member of the Northwest Organization of Nurse Executives.
Steven Brockman-Weber. CNO of Ascension Texas. Mr. Brockman-Webster leads nursing teams across Ascension Texas' care sites. In addition to his role at Ascension, he is serving a four-year term as a special government employee of the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice within the Health Resources and Services Administration, providing advice and recommendations to the HHS secretary and Congress on a range of issues. He is also a faculty member at Chicago-based Rush University College of Nursing, where he teaches in the DNP program.
Theresa Brodrick, PhD, RN. Executive Vice President and CNO of Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.). Dr. Brodrick oversees nursing practices across Hackensack Meridian Health's network. She has more than 30 years of healthcare management experience in academic and community settings, previously serving as regional chief nursing officer and vice president of clinical integration and transformation at Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente.
Jennifer Carpenter, MSN, RN. Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer of University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital and MacDonald Women's Hospital (Cleveland). In addition to Ms. Carpenter's role as the vice president and chief nursing officer of two UH hospitals, she currently serves as interim chief nurse executive for the health system. Before serving in these roles, she was the vice president for IT clinical systems at UH from 2015-20. Ms. Carpenter has been a registered nurse for more than 25 years. She was appointed a healthcare IT fellow with the Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare IT for 2016-17 and honored as a 2019 Woman of Professional Excellence by the YWCA of Greater Cleveland.
Trish Celano, MSN, RN. Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive at AdventHealth (Altamonte Springs, Fla.). Before being named to her current roles, Ms. Celano served as AdventHealth's senior vice president and regional chief clinical officer for the Central Florida Division-North Region as well as senior vice president and chief nursing officer for AdventHealth Orlando. She has more than 25 years of nursing and patient care experience. Her experience also includes serving at AdventHealth for Children as the facility's first chief nursing officer, where she led the hospital to earn a prestigious Magnet designation, which recognized the hospital for excellence in nursing.
Emily Chase, PhD, MSN. Chief Nursing Officer, Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services at UChicago Medicine. Dr. Chase has been with UChicago Medicine for more than 10 years. Before stepping into her current roles, she served for three years as the vice president of UChicago's Comer Children's Hospital, and before that as UChicago Medicine's executive director of patient logistics. Before joining UChicago Medicine, she served for more than seven years in roles at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. She also has worked as an adjunct faculty instructor of the doctorate of nursing program at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Ind.
Natalia Cineas, DNP, RN. System Chief Nursing Executive and Senior Vice President of NYC Health+Hospitals. Dr. Cineas is directly responsible for more than 9,600 nurses and 970 social workers. She manages care and respiratory therapy throughout the health system's more than 70 locations in the city’s five boroughs. She also is co-chair of the system’s equity and access council. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she recruited and employed 400 contract nurses to provide on-site nursing coverage for all New York City schools serving kindergarten through 12th grade, and 100 contract nurses for early childhood and Learning Bridges child care programs, prioritizing ZIP codes hardest hit by the virus.
Phyllis Doulaveris, DNP, MSN. Chief Nursing Officer at Banner Health (Phoenix). Dr. Doulaveris joined Banner Health as the senior vice president and chief nursing officer in 2018. She is responsible for overseeing the delivery of care provided by more than 18,000 Banner Health nurses at 28 acute care hospitals in six states. She has held executive positions with Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health, Glendale, Wis.-based Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, and Inova Health System, based in Falls Church, Va.
Diane Drexler, DNP, RN. Vice President of Patient Care Services and System Chief Nursing Officer of Community Memorial Health System (Ventura, Calif.). Dr. Drexler manages 12 direct report directors and managers, more than 1,000 full-time employees and a multimillion dollar operating budget. She was published in Nurse Leader in June of 2020. Dr. Drexler is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a Robert Wood Johnson executive nurse fellow alumna.
Cathy Duquette, PhD, RN. Executive Vice President of Quality and Safety and Chief Nursing Executive at Lifespan (Providence, R.I.). Dr. Duquette has been with Lifespan for more than 16 years. Before stepping into her current role, she was the health system's executive vice president of nursing affairs for more than seven years, and before that she was its senior vice president and chief quality officer for three years. She was president of the Rhode Island State Nurses Association from 2009 to 2013, and a senior vice president of the Hospital Association of Rhode Island from 1999 to 2006.
Kate FitzPatrick, DNP, RN. Connelly Foundation Chief Nurse Executive Officer at Jefferson Health (Philadelphia). Before joining Jefferson in 2019, Dr. FitzPatrick served at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington as senior vice president, chief nursing officer and associate dean of academic and practice integration at UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences. She was a member of the senior leadership team at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for 18 years. Dr. FitzPatrick completed the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellowship and is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing where she serves on the finance committee.
Jason Gilbert, PhD, MBA, RN. Executive Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at Indiana University Health. Dr. Gilbert became director of nursing operations in 2011 at Indiana University Health, where he has since held various leadership roles and was named chief nurse executive in February 2020.
Susan Grant, DNP, RN. Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Beaumont Health (Southfield, Mich.). Dr. Grant joined Beaumont in 2015 to oversee the system's 10,000 nurses. Prior to joining Michigan's largest healthcare system, she oversaw nursing operations at Emory Health in Atlanta and served as interim dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University and associate dean for clinical leadership. She is a Robert Wood Johnson executive nurse fellow and a Wharton Nursing executive fellow.
Karen Grimley, PhD, MBA, RN. Chief Nursing Executive at UCLA Health (Los Angeles). Dr. Grimley has served as the assistant dean and chief nursing executive at UCLA Health since September 2015. Prior to UCLA Health, she served as the chief nursing officer at UC Irvine Health for five years. Dr. Grimley has received numerous awards and honors throughout her career, including being selected as a 2012 Beryl Institute scholar and as the recipient of the 2020 Hospital Executive of the Year from the LA Business Journal and the 2001 Best Director of Nursing Award from Florida Medical Business.
Deb Harding, DNP, RN. Vice President and Regional Chief Nurse Executive at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist (Winston-Salem, N.C.). With 20 years of experience in healthcare leadership, Dr. Harding was appointed regional chief nurse executive in February 2021. Prior to her appointment, she served as chief nursing officer for the system for five years.
Patti Hart, DNP, RN. Chief Nursing Officer at Medical University of South Carolina Health (Charleston). Dr. Hart has served as the chief nursing officer at MUSC Health since November 2019. She has been with the system since July 2016, when she joined as associate chief nursing officer prior to assuming her current position.
Nancy Holecek. Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer of RWJBarnabas Health (West Orange, N.J.). Ms. Holecek oversees nursing for RWJBarnabas Health, which includes more than 11,000 nursing professionals. She is responsible for nursing and related patient care services, nursing initiatives and strategic planning, fiscal decisions, patient satisfaction, care coordination and quality. She recently led the system's patient experience efforts to create a patient and family center culture across all facilities.
Debbi Honey, MHA, BSN. Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Covenant Health (Knoxville, Tenn.). Ms. Honey joined Covenant Health in October 2017, bringing expertise in every aspect of nursing from the patient’s bedside to administrative leadership. Her most recent responsibilities with the health system have focused on clinical leadership of Covenant Health’s COVID-19 response, which has expanded to include supply and distribution logistics at multiple locations. She also is president of Honey Consulting.
Theresa Horne, MBA, MSN. Chief Nursing Officer at Tenet Healthcare (Dallas). Prior to her appointment as Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare's chief nursing officer in 2019, Ms. Horne was the system's senior director of nursing labor and practice for patient care services. Ms. Horne is also a retired lieutenant colonel of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, where she served 21 years on active duty in a variety of clinical and administrative positions.
Melissa Howard, MSN, RN. Chief Nursing and Clinical Executive at Inter-Community Hospital and Foothill Presbyterian Hospital (Glendora, Calif.). Ms. Howard's career began in 2000 as a graduate nurse. She has also served as the system's director of performance improvement and the director of medical-surgical services before she was appointed chief nursing executive in 2012. She is currently a member of the Association of California Nurse Leader's philanthropy committee.
Kathy Howell, BSN, RN. Chief Nursing Executive at UCHealth (Aurora, Colo.). Ms. Howell joined UCHealth in January 2018 and is responsible for overseeing the continued clinical integration and advancement of nursing across the system's 12 hospitals and 150 clinics. She also serves as chief nursing officer for the 700-bed University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora. Ms. Howell is a member of several organizations, including the American College of Healthcare Executives and the American Organization of Nurse Executives.
Jeffery Hudson-Covolo, DNP, RN. Vice President for Patient Care Services and Chief Nurse Executive, Chief Academic Officer and GME Designated Institutional Officer at Sierra View Local Healthcare District and Medical Center (Porterville, Calif.). Dr. Hudson-Covolo has held his position since 2014. His work focuses on the transition of the inpatient census to an outpatient setting. He has also provided nursing leadership to the medical center's service line development and the upgrade and implementation of the organization's EHR system. He is the founding designated institutional officer of the Sierra View Graduate Medical Education program, which works to develop a rural health clinic network.
Erin Jaynes, MSN, RN. CNO at SSM Health (St. Louis). Ms. Jaynes stepped into her role in September 2020. She has more than 30 years of advanced clinical experience, previously serving as senior vice president and chief nursing officer for Franciscan Alliance in Mishawaka, Ind. She has provided leadership to various projects and initiatives related to patient experience, patient safety, quality and clinical program development.
Mary Beth Kingston, PhD, RN. CNO at Advocate Aurora Health (Downers Grove, Ill., and Milwaukee). Dr. Kingston joined Aurora Health Care in 2012 and was appointed to her current role at Advocate Aurora Health in 2018. She serves on the American Hospital Association board of trustees and is a past president of the American Organization of Nurse Executives. She is a recipient of the American Assembly for Men in Nursing's Inclusion and Diversity Award and was recently inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.
Gay Landstrom, PhD. Senior Vice President and CNO at Trinity Health (Livonia, Mich.). Dr. Landstrom leads the hospital's efforts to ensure top quality, zero harm and exceptional patient experience. She is active with several professional organizations, including the EBSCO CINAHL Dynamic Health executive board, the board of the Midwest Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives and the AvaSure Nursing Advisory Board.
Holly Lorenz, MSN, RN. Chief Nurse Executive at UPMC (Pittsburgh). Along with her UPMC role, Ms. Lorenz also serves as associate dean for clinical relations at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. At UPMC, she is tasked with establishing and leading the strategic vision for more than 18,000 nurses. She has presented nationally and internationally on financial management in healthcare, models of interprofessional care, patient safety, quality and nursing leadership.
Wilhelmina Manzano, RN. Senior Vice President, Chief Nursing Executive and COO for Perioperative Services at NewYorkPresbyterian (New York City). Ms. Manzano leads the hospital's nursing department and provides oversight to its clinical and business operations. She is a fellow of the American Nursing Academy and the New York Academy of Medicine and is president of the American Nurses Foundation.
David Marshall, DNP, RN. Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive at Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles). Dr. Marshall has more than three decades of nursing leadership experience. He most recently completed a four-year term on the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Magnet Recognition Program. He has previously served on the board of directors for the American Organization of Nurse Executives, most recently beginning a three-year term as its treasurer. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
Andrea Mazzoccoli, RN, PhD, FAAN. Chief Nurse and Quality Officer at Bon Secours Mercy Health (Marriottsville, Md.). Dr. Mazzoccoli serves as a magnet appraiser for the American Nurses Credentialing Center. She was previously Bon Secours Health System's corporate chief nurse executive and was also the vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Christina McGuirk, BSN, RN. CNO at Orlando (Fla.) Health-Health Central Hospital and Horizon West Hospital. Ms. McGuirk serves as chair of Orlando Health's Nursing Leadership Council and Executive Nursing Cabinet. She has led several initiatives with the health system, including the expansion of the emergency department and the addition of an inpatient bed tower at Orlando Health-Health Central Hospital. She also helped the hospital gain accreditation for various specialty programs, such as chest pain, stroke and heart failure. She is a member of the Florida Organization of Nurse Executives and the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Lisa Medina, BSN, RN. CNO of Ascension St. John (Tulsa, Okla.). Ms. Medina is the leader of all nursing professionals at all six Ascension St. John hospitals and more than 90 healthcare clinics and facilities in eastern Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas. Under her leadership, the organization has received several five-star ratings from CMS. Previously, she was chief quality officer for St. John Health System.
Tracey Moffatt, BSN, RN. System CNO and Vice President of Quality of Ochsner Health (New Orleans). Ms. Moffatt directs the strategy and vision for nursing practice at Ochsner. She first joined the executive leadership team in 2015 and has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare leadership for nursing, operations and quality.
Denise Murphy, BSN, RN. Patient Care Systems Vice President and Senior Nurse Executive at BJC HealthCare (St. Louis). Before joining BJC HealthCare, Ms. Murphy worked as system vice president for quality and patient safety at Main Line Health in Philadelphia. In 2010, she was the winner of the Carole DeMille Achievement Award for infection prevention. She was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in 2013.
Mary Murphy, RN, MSN. Chief Nurse Executive and Patient Experience Officer at Amita Health (Chicago). Ms. Murphy, who has been with the organization for over 18 years, was appointed to her role as Amita's system chief nurse executive in June 2021. She previously served as regional chief nursing officer for the system. Before joining Amita, she was the vice president and CNO at Adventist Midwest Health.
Patricia O'Keefe, PhD, RN. Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at Atlantic Health System (Morristown, N.J.). Dr. O'Keefe is also the president of Morristown Medical Center. Through her leadership, the medical center has been ranked first in New Jersey by U.S. News & World Report for four consecutive years. She has received numerous awards and serves on the board of the Tri-County Scholarship Fund.
Beth Oliver, DNP, MSN. Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive at Mount Sinai Health System (New York City). Dr. Oliver is in charge of nursing practices throughout the system and works with the senior executive team and the chief nursing officers at the Mount Sinai hospitals. She has served as a cardiac nurse leader at Mount Sinai for more than 28 years. In 2018, she was made the president of the American Heart Association's board of directors in New York City, the first nurse to serve in that role.
Debi Pasley, MSN. System Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at Christus Health (Irving, Texas). Ms. Pasley has been with the system for more than five years. She has served in nursing leadership positions throughout the country, including as chief nursing officer of Oklahoma University Medical System. She has also served as the CNO of Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, Calif., and Cleveland Clinic.
Shannon Pengel, MSN, RN. Chief Nursing Officer at Cleveland Clinic. Ms. Pengel is the CNO for the system's main campus. She oversees nursing activities and operations throughout all the main campus's facilities, which have about 1,400 beds. She was previously the associate chief nursing officer for the main campus. Ms. Pengel also served as the clinical nursing director of Cleveland Clinic's Anesthesiology Institute and the Miller Family Heart and Vascular Institute.
Netonua "Toni" Reyes, MSN, RN. COO and Chief Nursing Officer at Broward Health Imperial Point (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). Ms. Reyes oversees more than a dozen departments, including operations, nursing and emergency services. She manages a $69 million budget and 500 full-time employees. She previously served as the director of emergency services at Jackson North Medical Center in Miami.
Angelique Richard, PhD, RN. Vice President for Clinical Nursing and Chief Nursing Officer at Rush University System for Health (Chicago). Dr. Richard has served as CNO of Rush University Medical Center since 2016 and CNO of the Rush system since 2018. She oversees the nursing practice, operations and performance improvement. She previously worked as the chief nurse executive and vice president of clinical operations for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
Amanda Richards, MSN, RN. Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare. Since January 2021, Ms. Richards has served as Hartford's first executive vice president and chief nursing officer of a system that touches the lives of 17,000 people daily. Throughout her more than 15 years of industry experience, she has led sustainable process improvements in quality, patient experience, staff engagement and labor optimization. Prior to joining Hartford, Ms. Richards was CNO at Minneapolis-based Allina Health, where she was responsible for more than 8,000 RNs.
Michelle Robertson, BSN. COO and Chief Nursing Officer at Ascension Saint Thomas (Nashville, Tenn.). Ms. Robertson serves Ascension Saint Thomas in a dual capacity as CNO and COO. She is committed to fighting health disparities and has led the efforts to implement Ascension's Caregiver Model of the Future, an interdisciplinary model that focuses on care improvement and team communication. Before her time at Ascension Saint Thomas, Ms. Robertson served as the president and CEO of Austin, Texas-based Ascension Seton.
Mary Robinson, PhD, RN. Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer of Reliable Health at Texas Health Resources (Arlington). Named CNO in May 2019, Dr. Robinson brings her clinical knowledge and decades of experience to the role. Known for her passion for patients and caregivers, she has worked throughout the pandemic with an unwavering commitment to safe, quality care; the mental health and well-being of nurses; and patient experience. Her 40-year nursing career has been devoted to Texas Health.
Betty Jo Rocchio, DNP, RN, CRNA. Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Mercy (St. Louis). Dr. Rocchio became senior vice president and CNO of Mercy in October 2020 after joining the organization in August 2013 as vice president of perioperative services and later serving as chief nursing optimization officer.. She also has experience as chief nurse anesthetist, system director of surgical services, vice president of nursing and chief nursing officer at Mount Carmel Health System in Columbus, Ohio.
Kathleen Sanford, BSN, RN. Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at CommonSpirit (Chicago). Ms. Sanford is tasked with managing and operating the nursing practice, patient care services and care coordination for the 140-hospital health system. Prior to joining CommonSpirit in 2006, she served as chief nurse and acting state surgeon/medical commander of the Washington Army National Guard. She has also served on several boards, including the American Hospital Association, the Tri-Council for Nursing, and as president of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership.
Maureen Schneider, PhD, RN. Chief Nursing and Operations Officer, Chilton Medical Center, Atlantic Health System (Holmdel, N.J.). Since taking up the position in 2014, Dr. Schneider has served as Chilton Medical Center's chief nursing officer and COO, overseeing more than 8,500 caregivers. She supports and facilitates an interdisciplinary team approach, focusing on consistency in the standard of practice across clinical settings. She has held a variety of leadership positions during her 30-year career.
Maureen Sintich, DNP, RN. Chief Nurse Executive and Executive Vice President, Inova (Falls Church, Va.). Since September 2017, Dr. Sintich has led Inova’s nursing professional practice team and six chief nursing officers representing Inova's five hospitals and nursing informatics. She has deep experience in nursing strategy, including models of care, staffing standards, patient experience and the integration of population health initiatives. Prior to Inova, she held an executive role at Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health.
Joyce Soule, DNP, RN. Chief Nursing Officer of Medical City Dallas. With 20 years of nursing experience, Dr. Soule has led the nursing team of Medical City Dallas since 2017. Prior to Medical City Dallas, she served as CNO at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kan., where she also oversaw Wesley Woodlawn, a community hospital, two off-campus emergency departments and hospital-based clinics.
Karen Springer, RN. Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Ascension (Nashville, Tenn.). Since taking on her role at Ascension in 2011, Ms. Springer has been responsible for providing guidance and resources to optimize performance throughout the health system. She has helped lead Ascension through the tremendous challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included scaling up the system's operations response across its ministry markets in 19 states and Washington, D.C. Prior to Ascension, she held multiple executive leadership positions, including CEO of Mountain View Medical Center in Las Cruces, N.M.
Maureen Swick, PhD, MSN, RN. Senior Vice President and Enterprise Nurse Executive at Atrium Health (Charlotte, N.C.). Dr. Swick's responsibilities at Atrium Health include managing the patient experience team, the security and safety force, the emergency departments and pharmacy services. She leads more than 16,000 nurses across the patient experience team. Dr. Swick is best known for implementing quality care and emergency practices at Atrium.
Janet Tomcavage, MSN, RN. Executive Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at Geisinger (Danville, Pa.). Ms. Tomcavage is in charge of Geisinger’s Nursing Institute, strategic planning, nursing practice, professional development, research and education partnerships. She also leads care management, Geisinger at Home and Geisinger's initiative to advance illness. Ms. Tomcavage led the hospital system's first initiative that addressed social determinants of health.
Angelo Venditti, DNP, RN. Chief Nurse Executive and Chief Patient Experience Officer at Temple University Health System (Philadelphia). Dr. Venditti oversees nursing practice and clinical operations at Temple University Hospital’s three campuses, outpatient clinics and the Fox Chase Cancer Center. On Dr. Venditti's first day at Temple Health, he helped transform an outpatient pavilion into a 200-bed COVID-19 inpatient facility. Since then, he also implemented Temple's new-to-practice nursing program, which has been accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center Practice Program.
Gail Vozella, MSN, RN. Chief Nursing Executive of Houston Methodist. Ms. Vozella has worked as chief nursing executive at Houston Methodist for 10 months. Before this role, she served as vice president of nursing at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston for more than 29 years.
Janice Walker, BSN, RN. Chief Nursing Officer at Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas). Ms. Walker has worked at Baylor Scott & White Health since 2010. She is in charge of advancing clinical practices among nursing staff and improving safety and quality outcomes for the health system. Before her current role, Ms. Walker was chief nurse executive of the system's Central Texas medical centers and CNO and chief operating officer of Fort Worth, Texas-based Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center.
Donna Watridge, BSN, RN. Chief Nursing and Operations Officer at Atlantic Health System, Hackettstown and Newton Medical Centers (New Jersey). Ms. Watridge is in charge of nurses, case management, emergency services and patient experience at both hospitals. Her main priority is ensuring patients have the highest quality of care possible. Ms. Watridge also helped open a hybrid operating room suite at Atlantic Health System and launched the STEMI intervention program at Newton Medical Centers, which has been activated 56 times with 25 patients receiving stents.
Maureen White, RN. Associate Executive Director, Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer at Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Ms. White is in charge of developing and implementing health strategies, nursing policies, protocols, strategic planning and operational standards. In 2011, she received the American Organization for Nurse Executives Mentorship Award. Before taking on her current roles at Northwell Health, she served as vice president for patient care services of Manhasset, N.Y.-based North Shore University Hospital and LIJ Medical Center in New Hyde Park.
Amy Wilson, DNP. Senior Vice President, Clinical Operations at Ascension (St. Louis). Dr. Wilson is in charge of planning, directing and organizing nursing services and care delivery models. During the pandemic, she has helped lend support and resources to the organization's 60,000 nurses. Dr. Wilson also helped design Ascension's Caregiver Model of the Future, which helps nurses integrate rural and telemedicine care with their regular duties.
Carla Yost, BSN. System Chief Nursing Officer of Ascension Kansas (Wichita). Ms. Yost is in charge of strategic and operational leadership for nursing at Ascension Kansas. She has almost 14 years experience in senior nursing, operation and quality roles. In 2021, Ms. Yost increased the hospital's Leapfrog rating by two letter grades.
Claire Zangerle, DNP. Chief Nursing Office of Allegheny Health Network (Pittsburgh). Dr. Zangerle serves more than 4,700 nurses and support staff. She is in charge of supporting and facilitating patient care delivery models. In 2021, Dr. Zangerle was selected as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing for her accomplishments in nursing policy, research, practice, administration and academia.