Who We Are

K. Kelly Hancock, MSN, RN, NE-BC

Executive Chief Nursing Officer
216.444.2404
hancock@ccf.org

As Executive Chief Nursing Officer for Cleveland Clinic's health system, Kelly, a 19-year Cleveland Clinic veteran, brings 20 years of healthcare experience to the leadership position.

In her role, Kelly leads the 11,000 nurses who are part of Cleveland Clinic’s Stanley Shalom Zielony Institute for Nursing Excellence, overseeing nursing practice, development and education in inpatient, outpatient, rehabilitation and home care fields. She also serves as Chief Nursing Officer of Cleveland Clinic’s main campus.

On a daily basis, Kelly dedicates excellence, professionalism, and compassion to the nursing profession. Kelly, a well-respected leader throughout the health system, has also served as Interim Executive Chief Nursing Officer, Senior Nursing Director of Critical Care and Nursing Director of the renowned Cleveland Clinic Heart & Vascular Institute.

Kelly is a board-certified nurse executive and a member of several prominent national nursing and leadership organizations, including the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), and the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses (AHF).

Throughout her career, Kelly has been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2011 Circle of Excellence Award from AACN. She is a two-time recipient of Cleveland Clinic’s Abbie Porter Leadership Award, which highlights excellence in nursing leadership, and was honored with an endowment in her name by Samuel and Maria Miller for the annual Cleveland Clinic Nursing Excellence Awards in 2012.

Stanley Shalom Zielony  1923-2012
Distinguished Benefactor

Stanley Shalom Zielony has supported advancing Cleveland Clinic’s patient care for more than a decade. He has supported orthopaedic spinal surgery research and the rehabilitation unit at Euclid Hospital.

• Find out more about Mr. Zielony's impact on Cleveland Clinic.

Cleveland Clinic's Nursing Institute is now known as The Stanley Shalom Zielony Institute for Nursing Excellence. In 2008, Mr. Zielony generously created The Stanley Shalom Zielony Endowed Chair for Nursing Advancement and also established The Stanley Shalom Zielony Center for Advanced Nursing Education. The center provides scholarships for more than 1,000 Cleveland Clinic nurses to pursue undergraduate degrees and advanced nursing degrees. Mr. Zielony’s gift also supports other nursing education initiatives, such as the institute’s simulation lab, where new and experienced nurses learn new skills and sharpen existing skills in a fully simulated clinical setting. Funding from Mr. Zielony also is used to implement nursing retention activities. In honor of his transformational philanthropy, Cleveland Clinic dedicated the Stanley Shalom Zielony Plaza on its main campus.

“The philosophy behind my philanthropy is quite simple,” said Mr. Zielony. “This country afforded me an opportunity to succeed beyond anything I could have imagined. I am hopeful that my support will create similar opportunities for others.”

With great success in the publishing industry, Mr. Zielony has a knack for thinking strategically to solve challenges — for finding needs and successful ways of meeting them. To the benefit of Cleveland Clinic, Mr. Zielony recognized the need for nurses and assistance for nurses seeking advanced degrees.

“Given the recession in Cleveland and the general economic downturn in the United States, I thought this was the perfect time to support a program dedicated to the recruitment and training of a new generation of young nurses and to the retraining of nurses interested in advancing within the profession,” he said.

Joan Kavanagh, MSN, RN

Associate Chief Nursing Officer
Clinical Education & Professional Development
216.986.4876
kavanaj@ccf.org

Joan began her career at Cleveland Clinic in 2005. Throughout her career she has worked as an emergency department staff nurse, staff nurse academic faculty, medical/surgical diabetes research coordinator and director of nursing education.

Joan has served as faculty in the ND, BSN and MSN programs at Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, as the diabetes control and complications research coordinator at University Hospitals of Cleveland, and led Cleveland Clinic's involvement in U.S. Department of Labor grant with a local community college to create an on-site RN program for Cleveland Clinic employees. In her current position, Joan has led the integration and standardization of nursing education across Cleveland Clinic's health system.

Joan was instrumental in the achievement of the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet Award for the Faculty Allocation Tool developed by the Deans' Roundtable Faculty Initiative and for the Ohio League for Nursing Honor Award for the Deans' Roundtable Faculty Initiative. She received the 2007 Cleveland Clinic Innovator Award for the Faculty Allocation Optimization Tool. Joan’s passions include image of nursing, simulation and ensuring a competent workforce.

James Bryant, MSN, RN, CEN, CCRN, NEA-BC

Associate Chief Nursing Officer
Emergency Medicine
216.986.4868
bryantj2@ccf.org

James began his career at Cleveland Clinic in 2010 and has more than 27 years of experience in areas ranging from direct patient care to multiple unit/product line management. He is responsible for the design of three state-of-the art emergency departments, including preparation of the certificate of need and construction budgets. He has designed and implemented electronic tracking and documentation systems and developed, marketed and implemented an occupational medicine program as part of the emergency department to meet the needs of the community and improve revenue sources.

James has received individual awards for his nursing skills as well as awards for the emergency departments and staff he has led. He has made improvements to the emergency department flow at Cleveland Clinic by redesigning the split-flow triage.

“Like many emergency department nurses, I have spent the majority of my career working to improve emergency services for patients,” James says. “A positive emergency department experience leads to better patient outcomes and satisfaction.”

Dr. Marianela “Nelita” Zytkowski, DNP, NEA-BC, RN-BC

Associate Chief Nursing Officer
Informatics
zytkowm@ccf.org

In this role, Nelita will be responsible for the organization, design and development, implementation and ongoing administration of nursing and clinical information systems. She will oversee all projects related to nursing information systems and serve as the nursing liaison to Cleveland Clinic’s ITD team. Additionally, her responsibilities include plan development and implementation of new and revised information systems, facilitation of programs and policies, the establishment of a climate for excellence in nursing practice, and ongoing professional development of clinical analysts and other employees.

Nelita has been a nurse at Cleveland Clinic for 13 years, most recently serving as the Senior Director of Nursing Informatics. She has a broad clinical nursing background in areas such as intensive care, pre-operative and recovery nursing.

A nationally recognized leader in nursing informatics, Nelita serves on several top-ranked nursing informatics committees and as an adjunct professor at several local Universities. She has also authored and published journal articles, research studies and book chapters on various nursing informatics topics. Throughout her 8-year tenure with the Cleveland Clinic Nursing Informatics department, Nelita has worked with countless automated solutions for mobile computing, electronic nursing documentation, web design, interoperability of systems, data mining, business intelligence, clinical decision support and simulation.

Nelita holds a Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) degree from Case Western Reserve University, where she studied the impact of electronic nursing documentation on the patient experience. She also holds a Master’s degree in Nursing Informatics from the University of Maryland, and a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Case Western Reserve University. Additionally, she holds dual board certifications through the American Nursing Credentialing Center (ANCC) in Nursing Informatics and as an Advanced Nursing Executive.

Dana Wade, MSN, RN, CNS-BS, CPHQ

Associate Chief Nursing Officer
Quality and Practice
216.986.4889
waded@ccf.org

With more than 20 years of healthcare experience, Dana has assisted and led multiple performance improvement projects. She is well versed in advanced clinical nursing and has extensive management experience in intensive care, cardiology, cardiac rehabilitation, research, quality and accreditation.

Throughout her tenure at Cleveland Clinic, Dana has fulfilled roles in nursing education and nursing quality. Serving as a concrete foundation for her ACNO role, her focus in nursing quality included driving health system success for the Magnet and Pathways programs, managing nursing quality measures and performance and ensuring regulatory compliance and patient safety in nursing practice.

Dana is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), Ohio and American Nurses Associations (ONA/ANA), and the Ohio and National Association for Healthcare Quality (OAHQ/NAHQ). She is a reviewer for the ANCC Pathways to Excellence® Program and serves on the UHC Nursing Quality Advisory Council.   She was also the 2011 recipient of Cleveland Clinic’s Abbie Porter Leadership Award.

Randall Hudspeth, MS, APRN-CNS/CNP, FRE, FAANP

Chief Nursing Officer
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
216.445.4282
hudsper@ccaduae.ae

Randall has served in senior management positions in organizations and hospitals for 30 years in the United States and internationally. For 12 years he served in a nursing leadership position at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He has been active in nursing regulation for nine years at the state, national and international levels.

Randall has been published in more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and has delivered more than 50 national and international presentations. He writes a quarterly column focused on regulation as it relates to nurse administrators that is published in Nursing Administration Quarterly. He researched, co-wrote and published Charting Idaho Nursing History, a 500-page book that chronicles professional nursing in Idaho from the mid-1800s to 2009.

Randall’s career began in intensive care and progressed to cardiac care and cardiac surgery ICU. He eventually became a cardiovascular clinical nurse specialist and a nurse practitioner before transitioning into leadership roles. He served eight years on the Idaho Board of Nursing as APRN, four years on the National Council of State Board of Nursing (NCSBN) APRN Committee and three years on the NCBSN board of directors.

Dawn Bailey, BSN, RN, MAOM

Chief Nursing Officer/Vice President
Euclid Hospital
216.444.3059
bailyd@ccf.org

In her 30 years of experience in healthcare at Cleveland Clinic, Dawn has moved progressively into professional positions with increasing responsibility. She has a strong clinical background in a wide variety of patient care specialties. She also has accrued many years of leadership and management experience in both complex tertiary care and in a community hospital setting.

Dawn’s specialty interests include patient satisfaction, servant leadership and human resource management. She has worked in internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, infectious disease, gerontology, nephrology, gastroenterology, endocrinology and ophthalmology. She says her nursing passion is “creating a culture that supports nurses to deliver outstanding quality care and an exceptional patient experience.”

Deb Small, MSN, RN, NE-BC

Chief Nursing Officer/Vice President of Nursing Care
Fairview Hospital
216.476.7274
smalld@ccf.org

Deb has more than 30 years of nursing experience, which includes a strong administrative, academic and clinical background. She began her career at Cleveland Clinic in 2009 with nursing consulting experience that includes strategic planning, restructuring, budgeting and legal matters. Her academic experience includes teaching medical-surgical and critical care. She has strong hospital leadership experience with clinical management including medical/surgical, cardiac, critical care and surgical services including startup operations and project management.

Deb has expertise in shared governance, Magnet® accreditation, quality management and performance improvement processes including the interpretation of The Joint Commission and other regulatory agency standards for the hospital and satellite health care environment. She has successfully developed and implemented systemwide programs including patient satisfaction initiatives using Press Ganey benchmarks, Leapfrog, and National Quality Forum safety initiatives using “just culture.” She has developed community and systemwide wellness programs and positive healthcare initiatives. Deb is a member of several professional organizations and has received awards for her service.

Deb says she has a passion for the work of nursing and caring for people. She believes in the need to continue to coach and mentor those entering the profession and provide ongoing learning opportunities and leadership development.

Sue Collier, MSN, BA, RN, NEA-BC

Chief Nursing Officer/Vice President
Hillcrest Hospital
440.312.3354
colliers2@ccf.org

Sue has 34 years of experience at Cleveland Clinic, having started as an ICU nurse at Huron Hospital and working her way up to assistant nurse manager, nurse manager, nursing supervisor, and then to director. In 1995 she began working at South Pointe Hospital, becoming Chief Nursing Officer there in 1997.

Sue has been awarded many professional honors in her career, including being recognized as one of the “Best of the Best” nurses by the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 2001. She belongs to several professional associations and her specialty interests include critical care, case management and patient safety. Sue’s passions include nurse empowerment and patient safety.

Mary R. Sauer, MBA, BSN, RN

Chief Nursing Officer/Vice President of Nursing Care
Lakewood Hospital
216.527.7051
masaue@ccf.org

Throughout her career, Mary has successfully proven her ability to develop, organize and lead diverse healthcare teams to achieve operational, fiscal and organizational success. As Senior Director of Nursing Operations, she actively demonstrated these qualities through her oversight of operations and budgets for nine cost centers, as well as the execution of several noteworthy projects, including the opening of the 35-bed Cleveland Clinic Rehabilitation Hospital at Lakewood Hospital and the development of an ‘auto launch’ process for stroke patients requiring interventional procedures.

With 30 years of progressive leadership experience, Mary has a broad background in the management of people and services, and extensive specialty knowledge in the areas of critical care, post-acute care and medical surgical nursing. Mary began her career at Fairview Hospital in 1979 as a registered nurse, serving many years as Nurse Manager and Director of Nursing prior to transferring to Lakewood Hospital in January 2011. She is a member of several professional organizations, was published in the Journal of Nursing Administration and recently received the YWCA Women of Excellence award.

Dr. Denise J. Minor, DNP, RN, CNS, NEA-BC

Chief Nursing Officer
Lutheran Hospital
216.363.2125
minord2@ccf.org

With thirteen years of leadership experience, including non-profit, academic, public health, inpatient, perioperative and emergency services, Denise is the Chief Nursing Officer at Lutheran Hospital.

Prior to her current role, Denise held the position of Chief Nursing Officer for Adena Health System in Chillicothe, Ohio, where she was responsible for approximately 500 employees. Some of Denise’s accomplishments include the development and implementation of a nursing quality structure that promotes engagement and improved outcomes, a 50 percent reduction in nursing turnover, and the design and implementation of a new graduate registered nurse internship program.

Denise’s strengths lie within the areas of process improvement, team building and cultural change to increase patient and employee satisfaction, along with financial performance and productivity. She has a wealth of knowledge regarding healthcare regulations serving as Health Commissioner for Circleville and Pickaway County Health Districts. Denise was also an Assistant Professor at the Ohio University School of Nursing, where she was well-versed in delivering didactic and theoretical content of the associate degree nursing program.

K. Kelly Hancock, MSN, RN, NE-BC

Chief Nursing Officer
Main Campus
216.444.2404
hancock@ccf.org

As the Chief Nursing Officer for Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus, Kelly is responsible for directing the daily clinical, academic and operational activities of the nursing staff, as well as the focus of nursing throughout the various clinical institutes. With 20 years of healthcare experience, she administers and directs nursing operations, as well as financial, regulatory and business activities. On a daily basis, Kelly dedicates excellence, professionalism, and compassion to the nursing profession. She provides a strong administrative and clinical atmosphere that promotes staff education and development as well as cohesion between all disciplines, professional nursing care and world-class patient care.

Kelly is a board-certified nurse executive and a member of several prominent national nursing and leadership organizations, including the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), and the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses (AHF).

Throughout her career, Kelly has been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2011 Circle of Excellence Award from AACN. She is a two-time recipient of Cleveland Clinic’s Abbie Porter Leadership Award, which highlights excellence in nursing leadership, and was honored with an endowment in her name by Samuel and Maria Miller for the annual Cleveland Clinic Nursing Excellence Awards in 2012.

Kimberly Hunter, MSN, MBA, RN, NE-BC

Associate Chief Nursing Officer
Main Campus
hunterk@ccf.org

For the past five years, Kim has been an integral part of the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus nursing team. Throughout her tenure with Cleveland Clinic, she has served as Director of Nursing for the Neurological Institute, which was her first Cleveland Clinic position in 2007; Senior Director of Medical/Surgical Nursing, which she added to her responsibilities in 2010; and, Director of Nursing for the Orthopaedic and Rheumatologic Institute, which she took on in 2011, also while keeping both of her other responsibilities.

With more than 25 years of healthcare experience, Kim has stood out as a leader in various positions throughout multiple health care settings. As Director of Nursing Operations and Clinical Information for Miami Children’s Hospital, Kim implemented a patient acuity system that drove inpatient unit staffing on a shift-by-shift basis, leading to positive hours per patient day results. Additionally, as Operations Administrator at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, she provided administrative oversight for four clinical divisions, working closely with physician chairs and institutional leaders to develop and operationalize new programs and lead financial performance analysis.

Kim has also held roles as Senior Systems Engineer at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, Senior Management Consultant for Management Directions of North Carolina, HMO Plan Manager for Principal Health Care of the Carolinas, Inc., and more. Her extensive leadership skills will prove beneficial as she begins her new position. In her new role, she will be responsible for providing leadership and coordination of nursing practice standards and ensuring superior nursing care is delivered according to quality, licensing, and accreditation standards.

She will lead strategic planning initiatives, including mechanisms to ensure uniform quality and adherence to standards. She will also oversee the design and implementation of assigned business plans, create a continuous improvement environment that promotes innovative patient care delivery, and measure budgetary performance against standards to ensure variances are within established targets.

Kim is a published author and a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives and American Association of Neuroscience Nurses. She holds both a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, as well as a Master’s in Business Administration degree from the University of Tennessee.

Barbara Zinner, MSN, RN

Chief Nursing Officer
Marymount Hospital
216.587.8220
bzinner@ccf.org

Barb Zinner began her career at Marymount Hospital in 1995, and has held various positions including Critical Care Educator, Director of Education, Senior Director of Nursing and as of August 2012, Chief Nursing Officer. Barb's clinical areas of expertise include critical care, cardiac rehabilitation, medical surgical nursing and the emergency department. Other former positions include working as a Nurse Manger and Nursing Supervisor.

Barb’s strong background in education, specifically in leadership and organizational development, has been instrumental in fostering the growth and development of the nurse managers she leads. In 2009, Barb - in collaboration with the Enterprise CNOs - established and facilitated Cleveland Clinic Nurse Leadership Academy. The objective of the academy was to facilitate the growth and development of the existing nurse mangers currently employed in the enterprise. A nurse for more than 28 years, Barb’s passion for "growing our own” newly graduated nurses is what sustains her quest for nursing excellence. Barb is a member of AONE and ANA and active in her community.  Her strengths are evident in in public speaking, developing team member accountability and advocating and facilitating change management.

Mary Kennedy, MBA, BSN, RN

Chief Nursing Officer
Medina Hospital
330.721.5985
makenn@ccf.org

As the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for Medina Hospital, Mary is a dynamic, experienced leader who brings nearly 25 years of experience to the forefront as she leads the Medina nursing team. Prior to her role as CNO of Medina Hospital, Mary worked at Cleveland Clinic’s Lutheran Hospital, serving as CNO for the past seven years. She arrived at Lutheran in 1988 with a team of medical experts to help transition the infamous spine and orthopedics program to Lutheran Hospital.

She has served in leadership roles in Quality and Case Management, Nursing Resources and Perioperative and Critical Care Services. Additionally, Mary has fulfilled the role of accreditation coordinator, clinical manager of PACU and endoscopy services and staff nurse for the PACU, emergency room and surgical cardiac intensive care units. She also has been involved in regulatory and operational management consulting and served as Lutheran Hospital’s Interim President in 2011.

Under Mary’s leadership, Lutheran Hospital received Cleveland Clinic's Hospital of the Year award for community service and volunteerism with Transitional Housing Inc. for 2010.

Tarey Ray, MS, RN

Chief Nursing Officer
Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC)

Tarey brings more than 30 years of progressive nursing leadership experience to her position as Chief Nursing Officer for Sheikh Khalifa Medical City.

She has fulfilled the Chief Nursing Officer position since May of 2009, and has also served as the acting Chief Operating Officer for the organization for the past year. She is responsible for developing the framework for the provision of safe, high quality, professional nursing programs and practices that promote customer service, employee engagement, improved quality outcomes, financial accountability, and growth of services. Prior to joining Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Tarey served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive of WellStar Health System in Marietta, Georgia.

Tarey’s strengths include building sustainable alliances, leading efforts in operational planning, program development, and project management, and ensuring collaboration among cross-functional departments and members of the healthcare team. Tarey holds a Master of Science degree in Healthcare Administration from the University of St. Francis and is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and American Association of Healthcare Executives.

• Find out more about Sheikh Khalifa Medical City.

Sheila Miller, MBA, MSN, RN

Chief Nursing Officer
216.491.7471
SMiller1@ccf.org

With 25 years of nursing experience, Sheila is the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for Cleveland Clinic’s South Pointe Hospital. Prior to this role, as Associate Chief Nursing Officer of Clinical Practice, Sheila worked to advance and integrate nursing practice across Cleveland Clinic's health system, collaborating with other organization disciplines to improve quality and patient outcomes.

Shelia has been a leading figure in the areas of quality patient care, relationship building and team management. Sheila began her career as a staff nurse at Lakewood Hospital and served six years at Cleveland Clinic main campus. She also served as Director of Nursing and Patient Care at Akron General Medical Center for 12 years where she demonstrated her commitment to bedside care and a supportive nursing care environment.

Her professional activities include public speaking and presenting as well as writing for publication. Miller is an avid community service volunteer for multiple organizations, including those aimed at improving health and education. She is a recipient of Case Western Reserve University’s Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and Weatherhead School of Management’s Hann Award for Excellence and Administration.

Kerry Major, MSN, RN

Chief Nursing Officer
Cleveland Clinic Florida
954.689.5951
majork@ccf.org

Kerry began working as an RN in 1991 in Hong Kong. She moved to South Florida in 1993 and worked at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach for more than 11 years. She held various roles there, including charge nurse, assistant nurse manager and clinical director. Kerry began her career at Cleveland Clinic Florida in 2004 as the clinical director of medical-surgical services. She took on the role of chief nursing officer in 2008.

Kerry is a member of several professional organizations. She says her passion is understanding the value nursing brings to the table and how nurses can best present or articulate that value.