Executive Nursing Director, Neuroscience Care Line

Salt Lake City, Utah, University of Utah Health seeks an Executive Nursing Director, Neuroscience Care Line Click here to view position profile: https://summitsearchsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/UHealth_Neuroscience_END_Profile.pdf Location: Salt Lake City, Utah The Position: The Executive Nursing Director, Neuroscience Care Line, is the senior nursing executive responsible for integrating and advancing neuroscience care across University of Utah Health and partner organizations. The Neuroscience Care Line is responsible for the full spectrum of neurosciences including:

Neurology (general neurology, vascular neurology/stroke, epilepsy, neuromuscular (except spine), movement disorders, neuro-oncology, headache and pain, neuroimmunology). Neurosurgery (cranial, functional/stereotactic, neuro-oncologic, skull base, pediatric neurosurgery). Neurointerventional/endovascular neurosurgery (acute stroke intervention, aneurysm coiling, AVM/AVF embolization, carotid stenting). Neuroscience support services (comprehensive stroke center, neuro ICU, epilepsy monitoring unit, neurodiagnostics (EEG/EMG), neuro-rehabilitation, stereotactic radiosurgery).

The role aligns Care Line strategy with nursing practice and operations, elevates nursing and patient perspectives in decision-making, and promotes Magnet-driven excellence in quality, safety, patient experience, workforce development, and professional nursing practice. As a partner on the three-person Care Line Executive Leadership Team (ELT), alongside the Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Medical Officer for Neuroscience, this leader coordinates neuroscience services across the continuum of care and provides leadership for strategic growth, operational integration, innovation, quality and safety initiatives, academic integration, workforce development, and financial stewardship while fostering a culture of high reliability and collaboration. The Executive Nursing Director serves as the nursing executive liaison between Care Line leadership and nursing operations, ensuring alignment between organizational priorities, frontline practice, and patient care delivery. The role reports to the Care Line Clinical Board, with functional reporting to the Chief Nursing Officer, and co-leads the Care Line Executive Operations Committee (CLEOC) to achieve Care Line goals and outcomes. Responsibilities: Strategic Leadership and Growth

Develop and execute strategic, operational, and business plans that advance Neuroscience Care Line priorities, strengthen the Care Line’s competitive position, and support organizational objectives. Set a clear, aligned vision for nursing within the Neuroscience Care Line that reflects system strategy and Nursing Excellence principles. Align nursing strategy, professional practice, and workforce initiatives with Care Line goals and system priorities. Assess market dynamics, the competitive landscape, and patient, workforce, and operational needs to identify opportunities for innovation, growth, improved access, and enhanced care delivery. Support the development and implementation of care models that improve patient outcomes, experience, and value. Establish, monitor, and communicate key nursing, quality, patient experience, and operational performance metrics.

Strategic-Operational Integration and Liaison Role

Serve as the primary nursing liaison between Care Line leadership and nursing operations. Enable bi-directional communication that ensures nursing perspectives and frontline insights inform Care Line strategy, decision-making, and operational priorities. Translate Care Line initiatives into operational guidance and implementation strategies for nursing leaders and clinical teams. Create clear communication and feedback mechanisms that foster transparency, engagement, accountability, and alignment across nursing, interdisciplinary stakeholders, and clinical areas. Promote alignment between Care Line priorities, nursing operations, and enterprise nursing initiatives.

Quality, Safety, and Patient Advocacy

Champion a culture of high reliability, patient safety, transparency, and continuous improvement through shared accountability and organizational learning across the Neuroscience Care Line. Represent nursing priorities in quality, safety, workforce, and resource allocation discussions, advocating for frontline realities and patient needs. Ensure patient and family perspectives inform strategic planning, care design, and leadership decision-making. In partnership with Executive Leadership Team members, lead and monitor Care Line quality, safety, patient experience, and operational priorities, including OKRs and metrics. Lead nursing engagement in performance improvement initiatives that improve patient outcomes and care delivery effectiveness.

Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement

Serve as a visible and trusted ELT partner and executive nursing leader, modeling shared leadership and advancing the culture, mission, vision, and strategic priorities of the Neuroscience Care Line. Partner with physician, administrative, and nursing leaders to align Care Line priorities with organizational strategy and operational execution. Align physician, nursing, and administrative leaders around shared goals, navigating differences through collaboration and trust. Build strong relationships with nursing leaders, clinical staff, physicians, advanced practice providers, operational leaders, academic partners, and external stakeholders. Promote interdisciplinary collaboration and shared accountability across care settings and organizational boundaries. Support effective communication, stakeholder engagement, and coordinated execution of strategic initiatives.

Professional Nursing Practice and Workforce Development

Promote excellence in professional nursing practice through adherence to evidence-based nursing standards and nursing professional practice frameworks. Support nursing workforce planning, recruitment, retention, engagement, and succession planning initiatives. Foster a culture of professional development, mentorship, leadership growth, and continuous learning. Advance nursing involvement in quality improvement, clinical innovation, research, and professional practice initiatives. Collaborate with nursing leaders to align staffing models, workforce strategies, and patient care needs. Model transformational leadership that inspires innovation, empowerment, and professional excellence. Cultivate a culture in which nurses at all levels feel informed, inspired, and connected to the Care Line’s mission. Build credibility and alignment with key stakeholders to ensure nursing’s integral role in strategic advancement.

Qualifications: Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

Demonstrated success leading complex, multi-site nursing operations and interdisciplinary initiatives through influence, collaboration, and strategic leadership. Neuroscience expertise, with a strong understanding of the clinical, operational, and nursing practice needs across neurology, neurosurgery, neurocritical care, and neurointerventional services. Strong understanding of healthcare quality, patient safety, nursing practice, operational performance, and workforce development. Strong clinical, operational, and financial leadership track record, including measurable improvement in quality, safety, patient experience, workforce outcomes, and financial performance. Proven ability to align nursing strategy with organizational goals and care delivery priorities. Strong strategic and systems-thinking capabilities with the ability to lead across highly matrixed healthcare environments, build multi-year strategies, and lead clinical integration across sites and partner organizations. Demonstrated ability to use performance metrics, data analytics, and continuous improvement methodologies to drive measurable outcomes. Executive presence with exceptional communication, relationship-building, negotiation, and change leadership skills. Proven ability to partner as a co-leader with administrative and physician partners in setting strategy, allocating resources, and driving enterprise-level results. Ability to build trust and alignment among nursing leaders, physicians, operational leaders, academic partners, and executive stakeholders. Demonstrated commitment to patient-centered care, professional nursing excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement. Collaborative, human-centered leader with high emotional intelligence, sound judgment, and a commitment to inclusive interdisciplinary practice.

Required Qualifications

Current license to practice as a Registered Nurse in the State of Utah, or obtain one within 90 days of hire under the Interstate Compact if switching residency to State of Utah. Must maintain current Interstate Compact (multi-state) license if residency is not being changed to Utah. Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). Master's degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, or related field. Five or more years of progressive nursing leadership experience in a complex healthcare organization. Demonstrated experience leading nursing operations, quality initiatives, workforce development efforts, or clinical programs. Experience collaborating across multiple disciplines and influencing outcomes within highly matrixed healthcare environments.

Preferred Experience

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), PhD in Nursing, or other advanced clinical or leadership degree. Leadership experience within an academic medical center or integrated health system. Experience supporting service line operations, organizational transformation, or enterprise strategic initiatives. Clinical practice experience in neuroscience and/or neurology care. Leadership experience in a Magnet-designated or Magnet-recognized hospital or health system. Experience leading large-scale quality, patient safety, workforce, or practice transformation initiatives.

A New Model for Integrative Care: University of Utah Health is advancing a Care Line model designed to organize care around the needs and experience of patients across the full continuum of care rather than around individual departments, sites, or disciplines. The model brings together physician, nursing, and administrative leadership to create stronger alignment across clinical programs and care settings, reduce fragmentation, improve access and coordination, and create a more consistent patient experience. Each Care Line is led by a three-person executive leadership team consisting of a Chief Medical Officer, Executive Nursing Director, and Chief Administrative Officer. Together, these leaders are responsible for integrating clinical, operational, nursing, financial, quality, academic, and growth priorities across a highly matrixed organization. They work through existing clinical departments, hospitals, practices, institutes, and administrative structures rather than replacing them, making influence, partnership, shared accountability, and enterprise thinking essential to success. U of U Health began implementation of the model with its Solid Organ Transplant Care Line , naming Josef Stehlik, MD, MPH, as its Chief Medical Officer and Executive Director in 2026 following a national search. The health system described this Care Line as the first of several being developed to create a more integrated, patient-centered model of care. The Neuroscience Care Line represents an opportunity to help shape this model at an important stage in its development. Its leaders will have the opportunity not simply to administer an existing structure, but to help define how an integrated Care Line should operate, grow, and create value for patients, clinicians, and U of U Health. The Neuroscience Care Line The Neuroscience Care Line will bring together an unusually broad and complex continuum of highly specialized neurological and neurosurgical care, spanning neurology; neurosurgery; neurointerventional and endovascular care and critical neuroscience support services. Its scope includes such areas as stroke and vascular neurology, epilepsy, movement disorders, neuromuscular disease, neuro-oncology, neuroimmunology, cranial and functional neurosurgery, neurocritical care, neurodiagnostics, neurorehabilitation, and stereotactic radiosurgery, among others. The Care Line extends across inpatient, outpatient, perioperative, procedural, diagnostic, rehabilitative, and other settings of care. The opportunity extends well beyond coordinating existing programs. The Neuroscience Care Line provides a framework for U of U Health to connect expertise and resources that currently span multiple departments, sites, and organizational structures; strengthen the patient journey across the continuum; establish shared priorities and measures of performance; expand access; advance quality and clinical innovation; and identify opportunities for strategic growth. Its leaders will need to bring people together across a highly matrixed academic health system while respecting the important roles of department chairs, division chiefs, nursing leadership, operational leaders, faculty, and other existing structures. For the neuroscience leadership team, the mandate is larger than overseeing individual programs; it is to position neuroscience as an increasingly integrated, distinctive, and high-impact enterprise within U of U Health and across the Mountain West. About University of Utah Health: University of Utah Health (U of U Health) is Utah’s only academic health care system and a major health care, research, and education resource for the Mountain West with an annual budget of $7 billion. Its referral area encompasses approximately 10 percent of the United States, including Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, western Colorado, and much of Nevada. Its integrated enterprise includes 5 hospitals, 12 community health care centers, the University of Utah Medical Group, U of U Health Plan, ARUP Laboratories, and numerous nationally recognized institutes and centers. More than 27,000 employees support this broad mission. U of U Health combines the reach and complexity of a major health system with the academic mission of a leading research university. It provides care across more than 200 specialties, trains the majority of Utah’s physicians and thousands of other health care professionals, and supports a health sciences research enterprise that reached $531 million in funding in FY2025. In 2026, U of U was again recognized by Vizient as a top-preforming comprehensive academic medical center, continuing a 17-year record of top performance. The University of Utah Health is led by Bob S. Carter, MD, PhD , Executive Vice President for Health Sciences and CEO of U of U Health. An internationally recognized neurosurgeon-scientist and health care executive, Dr. Carter joined the University of Utah in 2025 following leadership roles at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School. Under his leadership, U of U Health is advancing an ambitious vision of its next era; building on the organization’s strengths in clinical care, research, education, and community impact while creating the structures and capacities necessary for sustainable growth. U of U Health is in a period of significant growth and evolution. Investments in new facilities, expanded regional access, clinical integration, research, technology, and new models of care are extending its reach throughout Utah and the Mountain West. Among those changes is the development of a Care Line model designed to bring greater coordination and accountability to care across traditional organizational boundaries, strengthening patient experience, access, growth, and operational performance. Why Consider the Opportunity:

Shape the Model: Define how nursing leadership, practice, and operations will influence one of U of U Health’s emerging Care Lines and the evolution of integrated care across the system. Advance Nursing Excellence: Set a high standard for nursing practice, quality, safety, patient experience, and professional development across a complex continuum of neuroscience care. Lead Across Boundaries: Exercise executive leadership across departments, programs, and care settings, partnering with physician and administrative leaders to align strategy, priorities, and performance. Drive Workforce Strategy: Advance workforce planning, leadership development, engagement, retention, and succession strategies that strengthen organizational capability and support future growth. Transform Care Delivery: Reimagine how nursing resources, workflows, and care models can improve access, coordination, efficiency, and outcomes for patients with complex neurological conditions across Utah and the Mountain West. Shape What Comes Next: Bring the nursing executive perspective to enterprise strategy, innovation, growth, and decision-making as U of U Health builds the future of integrated neuroscience care.

To Apply: The qualifications outlined in this profile are intended to reflect the breadth and complexity of the role and the experience that may prepare the candidate for success. U of U Health recognizes that candidates may bring different combinations of clinical, leadership, strategic, and organizational experience. Candidates are encouraged to highlight the experiences and strengths they would bring to the role. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Applications received by December 7, 2026 , will receive first consideration. Candidates should submit a CV/resume and a brief one-page statement of interest. All applications and nominations will be held in confidence. To apply online: https://theapplicantmanager.com/jobs?pos=su539 For more information or to offer recommendations or nominations: Karen Pedersen, Ph.D. Senior Consultant Summit Search Solutions, Inc. Direct: 719-747-2545 kpedersen@summitsearchsolutions.com University of Utah Health Hospitals and Clinics, a part of The University of Utah, values candidates who have experience working in settings with students and patients from all backgrounds and possess a strong commitment to improving access to higher education and quality healthcare for historically underrepresented students and patient populations. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply. Veterans’ preference is extended to qualified applicants, upon request and consistent with University policy and Utah state law. Upon request, reasonable accommodations in the application process will be provided to individuals with disabilities. University of Utah Health Hospitals and Clinics, a part of The University of Utah, is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer and does not discriminate based upon race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, or protected veteran's status. The University does not discriminate on the basis of sex in the education program or activity that it operates, as required by Title IX and 34 CFR part 106. The requirement not to discriminate in education programs or activities extends to admission and employment. Inquiries about the application of Title IX and its regulations may be referred to the Title IX Coordinator, to the Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, or both. To request a reasonable accommodation for a disability, please contact the University of Utah Health Hospitals and Clinics Human Resources office at 801-581-6500. If you or someone you know has experienced discrimination or sexual misconduct including sexual harassment, you may contact the Director/Title IX Coordinator in the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO). More information, including the Director/Title IX Coordinator's office address, electronic mail address, and telephone number can be located at: www.utah.edu/nondiscrimination/ . Online reports may be submitted at oeo.utah.edu/ . The University is a participating employer with Utah Retirement Systems (“URS”). Eligible new hires with prior URS service may elect to enroll in URS if they make the election before they become eligible for retirement (usually the first day of work). Contact Hospitals and Clinics Human Resources at (801) 581-6500 for information. Individuals who previously retired and receive monthly retirement benefits from URS are subject to URS’ post-retirement rules and restrictions. Please contact Utah Retirement Systems at (801) 366-7770 or (800) 695-4877 or Hospitals and Clinics Human Resources at (801) 581-6500 if you have questions regarding the post-retirement rules. This position may require the successful completion of a criminal background check and/or drug screen.