Senior Vice President, Chief Nursing Executive

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Overview

Senior Vice President, Chief Nursing Executive 

Location: Springfield, IL

 

Memorial Health is seeking a visionary leader to serve as our next Senior Vice President, Chief Nursing Executive (SVP, CNE), a transformative executive role with enterprise wide impact across nursing practice and ambulatory operations.

 

Reporting directly to the President & CEO, the SVP, CNE will help shape the future of care delivery across the Memorial Health system by advancing clinical excellence, elevating the patient and caregiver experience, and leading innovative models of care that improve lives across the communities we serve.

This is more than a nursing leadership role. It is an opportunity to influence the future of healthcare delivery at one of the region’s leading health systems.

 

About the Opportunity

As the senior executive leader for nursing, the SVP, CNE sets the vision for professional nursing practice, workforce strategy, clinical education, and systemwide nursing excellence across all sites of care. This leader will champion a culture where:

• Nurses are empowered and supported
• Patients feel safe, respected, and cared for
• Clinical teams thrive through collaboration and innovation
• Evidence-based practice drives exceptional outcomes

In addition, the SVP, CNE provides executive oversight for Memorial Health’s ambulatory operations, including primary care, specialty care, and urgent care services. This leader will play a critical role in reimagining how care is accessed and experienced throughout the community by aligning operational performance, clinical quality, and compassionate care delivery.

Qualifications

Education:

• Master’s degree in Nursing or related field; Doctorate preferred.

Licensure/Certification/Registry:

• Licensed RN in the State of Illinois required.

Experience:

• 10+ years of progressive nursing leadership in a complex, multi‑hospital health system.
• Demonstrated success leading system-wide clinical, operational, and workforce initiatives.
• Experience with Magnet, regulatory readiness, and large-scale practice transformation.

Other Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Strategic Acumen: Demonstrates deep expertise in shaping enterprise nursing strategy and aligning clinical priorities with organizational goals, population health needs, and community well‑ Champions innovation and best practices in care delivery, clinical transformation, and system integration.
• Clinical Operations & Standards: Possesses comprehensive knowledge of evidence‑based practice, nursing protocols, interdisciplinary care delivery models, and standards of care across diverse settings. Expert understanding of regulatory and accreditation requirements influencing nursing practice, including CMS, Joint Commission, and Magnet frameworks.
• Financial Acumen: Holds strong healthcare financial management expertise to align nursing operations with system financial performance. Able to translate clinical strategy into sustainable economic outcomes, leveraging productivity, resource optimization, and value‑based care principles.
• Nursing Relations and Clinical Integration: Skilled in fostering collaborative, trusting partnerships with medical staff, system executives, and clinical leaders. Aligns nursing strategy with enterprise clinical and operational priorities, promoting true interdisciplinary integration across hospitals and care settings.
• Quality Improvement: Uses analytics, benchmarking, and systemwide dashboards to identify quality and safety gaps and drive continuous improvement. Demonstrates mastery of improvement methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, HRO) to elevate outcomes, reliability, and patient experience across the enterprise.
• Community Advocacy: Acts as a champion for addressing health disparities through partnerships with community organizations. Promotes equitable care delivery, ensuring nursing practice supports cultural humility, access, and improved health outcomes for underserved populations.
• Driving Change: Acts as a champion for system-wide transformation initiatives with clinical staff. Addresses and overcomes resistance, transparently communicates reasons for change, and fosters adoption of clinical transformation efforts.
• Executive Healthcare Leadership: Exhibits strong executive presence and the ability to build, inspire, and align high‑performing nursing leadership teams. Guides the development of systemwide clinical programs, expansion of services, and workforce strategies that ensure the right talent, in the right roles, at the right time to meet patient care dema