4 NorthShore hospitals to get new presidents next year

As a nursing assistant in intensive care, Nicole Fernandez learned on the job. She watched older nurses not only model how to communicate with patients, but also advocate for themselves, moving slowly into hospital leadership roles.

“I remember just being so excited about the possibility of being able to do what the nurses I worked with did,” Fernandez said. “I started to watch leaders form when I was a new nurse … and I thought, OK, I can see myself doing that.”

After 24 years at NorthShore hospitals, Fernandez will become president of Highland Park Hospital in January, as part of a cascading series of promotions at NorthShore—Edward-Elmhurst health. As NS-EEH leaders work to increase communication among hospital branches, leadership changes are coming to four Chicagoland hospitals in 2024. Three of the four new hospital presidents will be women, still a rarity in health care management nationwide.

Highland Park Hospital President Gabrielle Cummings will become president of Evanston Hospital in January, while continuing to oversee acute and ambulatory operations at all nine NorthShore—Edward-Elmhurst hospitals.

Cummings will be succeeded in Highland Park by Fernandez, currently chief nursing officer at Evanston Hospital. Evanston Hospital’s current president, Doug Silverstein, will retire in 2024 after 42 years with NorthShore.

Skokie Hospital President Dave Rahija will move to lead NorthShore-EEH Medical Group Operations, to be replaced by surgical services operations leader Gus Granalchek.

Additionally, Glenbrook Hospital President Jesse Peterson Hall prepares to retire in summer 2024, after 21 years with NorthShore. Maria Knecht, Glenbrook Hospital senior vice president and chief nursing officer, will step into the role.

A new cardiovascular institute based at Glenbrook Hospital will launch in the spring, shortly before Hall retires. Watching over the program’s growth is one of Knecht’s goals for her first 100 days at the helm of the hospital, she said.

As president of Highland Park Hospital, Cummings oversaw emergency care for residents following last year’s July Fourth mass shooting.

In tapping four new presidents, NorthShore did not carry out an external search, Cummings told the Tribune.

Knecht has spent 15 years in advancing leadership roles at NorthShore after starting her career as a charge nurse. Knowing that most promotion at NorthShore happens internally, she said, is one of the reasons so many nurses stay for decades.

“We’ve got a very supportive environment here where there is a strong mentoring program in existence for leaders,” Knecht said, adding: “My entire tenure here I’ve constantly been mentored and developed.”

With the promotions, six out of nine NorthShore—Edward-Elmhurst hospital presidents will be women. Cummings, Knecht and Fernandez join Kimberley Darey at Elmhurst Hospital, Yvette Saba at Edward Hospital and Gina Sharp at Linden Oaks Behavioral Health.

Cummings didn’t notice the majority until after hiring decisions were made. In a female-dominated profession, focusing on employees who built trust through care work often means bringing women to the executive table, she said.

“Most of the nurses and a lot of the clinicians that are doing the day-to-day health care are women, and I think our organization has acknowledged and recognized that by developing female leaders,” Cummings said.

In hospitals, women are underrepresented in most leadership positions except for chief nursing officer and chief human resource officer, a 2021 study from East Carolina University found. About 27% of hospital presidents and CEOS are women, the study found.

Female hospital leaders are also more commonly found in small, rural, teaching or church-owned hospitals, ECU researchers wrote.

For Knecht, moving from nursing — a female-dominated profession — into large-scale health care management has informed the kind of workplace culture she wants to create.

“The best part of (nursing) was that I could impact five patients a day, then when I was a manager, I was like, ‘I can influence 40,’” Knecht said. “We understand what that’s like down to the patient level at the bedside. You grow up in that and you never lose that.”

Another 2021 study by seven hospitals in Ohio, Florida, Texas, Georgia and Washington found that health care networks with more women in senior leadership positions were more likely to have female CEOs.

“To be able to groom other qualified female leaders for that opportunity just speaks volumes,” Fernandez said.

Cummings, whose search process for Evanston Hospital took place separately, knew the change was coming for a long time, she said. Goals for the NorthShore-EEH class of leaders include better financial stability and stronger patient outcomes.

Other goals for new leaders’ first 100 days include communicating more with residents in the neighborhoods surrounding NorthShore-EEH hospitals, as well as with nonclinical staff.

“Working with the staff who are taking the blood or cleaning the room or delivering the meals, in addition to the staff that deliver the care … that’s just going to be really important for us to keep front and center, because it’s going to look a little different,” Fernandez said.

Having been at Evanston Hospital before, returning as president felt like a homecoming in some ways, Cummings said.

“I know all the secret passageways and the back corridors to take the fastest routes,” Cummings said. “I’m just excited to go back and look at the campus with different eyes.”