Renée Kessler

Renée Kessler joined CHA in 2014 as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, bringing a 25-year record of operations leadership experience. During her career, Renée has been a leader, mentor, and team player, achieving success in a range of large and complex hospital environments that care for vulnerable populations.

From 2007-2014, Renée served as Chief Operating Officer of Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital, a 683-bed urban teaching hospital in Nashville, TN. In this role she was responsible for all patient care operations, including quality and safety, staff and physician satisfaction, and overall budget, productivity, and cost performance. During her tenure, the hospital's operating margins grew from 5% to 8.6%. She also directed a four-year effort to achieve Voluntary Protection Program status through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration focused on employee safety, which was secured in 2012, making Saint Thomas Midtown the first Tennessee hospital and 14th in the United States to achieve this distinction.

Prior to her work in Nashville, Renée served as the Chief Operating Officer/Administrator at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, NJ, a 350-bed community teaching hospital. She led a significant financial turnaround spurred by revenue enhancement and program growth that saw the hospital achieve break-even cash flow two years ahead of schedule. She also developed a strategic plan that resulted in program and volume growth and the recruitment of new physicians in various service lines.

Kessler earned her bachelor's degree in English from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in health care administration from Ohio State University.