VP, Chief Nursing Officer

BHS Baptist Healthcare System; Springlee (KY); On-site; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

Baptist Health Louisville is seeking an accomplished Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer to lead nursing services across the system. This Magnet-designated hospital seeks a transformational leader to advance clinical innovation and interprofessional collaboration.

The CNO will set standards of nursing practice, oversee patient safety programs, and align workforce strategies with organizational priorities.

Qualifications

• BSN and a master's degree in Nursing or Healthcare Leadership is required.
• DNP or PhD preferred.
• Minimum of 15 years of senior nursing leadership experience in an acute care hospital setting.
• Current Kentucky Registered Nurse license required.
• Leadership certification through ACHE, AONL, or KONL required by hire or within two years.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for nursing services across Baptist Health Louisville.
• Establish standards of professional nursing practice and patient care programs.
• Drive governance, quality, safety, and clinical innovation.
• Foster workforce development, succession planning, and physician partnerships.

Skills

Change management

Mentoring

Financial management

Interpersonal skills

Strategic leadership

Education

BSN

Master's in Nursing or Healthcare Leadership

DNP or PhD preferred

Kentucky RN license

Job description

Vice President & Chief Nursing Officer

Location: Louisville, Kentucky.

Executive Leadership Opportunity Baptist Health Louisville is seeking an accomplished, visionary nursing executive to serve as Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer (CNO). As a four-time Magnet®-designated hospital, Baptist Health Louisville has a distinguished tradition of nursing excellence, exceptional patient care, and professional practice. We are seeking a transformational leader who will build upon this foundation while advancing clinical innovation, strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration, and inspiring nursing excellence. The Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer serves as a key member of the hospital's executive leadership team, providing strategic direction and operational oversight for nursing services throughout the organization. This executive is responsible for establishing standards of professional nursing practice, developing organization-wide patient care programs, and ensuring the delivery of safe, high-quality, evidence-based care in accordance with Kentucky nursing laws and regulatory requirements. The CNO partners with executive leadership, the governing body, medical staff, and clinical leaders to advance organizational priorities, improve patient outcomes, and promote operational excellence. This position provides executive oversight of nursing policies, professional practice standards, quality improvement initiatives, and patient safety programs while championing a strong shared-governance structure that empowers nursing professionals and supports continued Magnet® excellence.

Additional responsibilities include advancing nursing workforce strategies, leadership development, employee engagement, and succession planning while promoting responsible resource stewardship. The CNO also participates in evaluating and implementing healthcare technologies, clinical information systems, and innovative care delivery models that enhance patient outcomes and operational effectiveness.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and a master's degree in Nursing or Healthcare Leadership required.
• Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) or PhD preferred.
• Minimum of 15 years of senior nursing leadership experience in an acute care hospital setting required.
• Current Kentucky Registered Nurse license required.
• Leadership certification through ACHE, AONL, or KONL required at the time of hire or within two years of employment.
• Demonstrated expertise in organizational change management, with a proven record of successfully implementing new programs, processes, systems, and innovative patient care delivery models.
• Exceptional mentoring, interpersonal, analytical, and financial management skills, coupled with political acumen and the ability to establish and sustain strong physician relationships.
• Demonstrated success influencing organizational strategy, building collaborative partnerships, and leading high-performing teams is essential.

This is an exceptional opportunity to influence the strategic direction of nursing within a highly respected healthcare organization committed to quality, innovation, and professional excellence. The successful candidate will play an instrumental role in shaping the future of nursing while continuing Baptist Health Louisville's legacy of outstanding patient care.

Baptist Health is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.

Founded in 1924 in Louisville, Kentucky, Baptist Health is a full-spectrum health system dedicated to improving the health of the communities it serves. The Baptist Health family consists of 10 hospitals, employed and independent physicians, and more than 470 points of care, including outpatient facilities, physician practices and services, urgent care clinics, outpatient diagnostic and surgery centers, home care, fitness centers, and occupational medicine and physical therapy clinics. Baptist Health’s eight owned hospitals include more than 2,300 licensed beds in Corbin, Elizabethtown, La Grange, Lexington, Louisville, Paducah, Richmond and New Albany, Indiana. Baptist Health also operates two joint venture hospitals: the 410-bed Baptist Health Deaconess Madisonville in Madisonville, Kentucky with Deaconess Health System based in Evansville, Indiana, and the Baptist Health Rehabilitation Hospital, a 40-bed inpatient rehabilitation facility with Encompass Health, based in Birmingham, Alabama. Baptist Health employs more than 24,000 people in Kentucky and surrounding states. Baptist Health is the first health system in the U.S. to have all of its hospitals recognized by the American Nursing Credentialing Center with either a Magnet® or Pathway to Excellence® designation for nursing excellence. Baptist Health’s employed provider network, Baptist Health Medical Group, has more than 1,820 employed providers offering care in 78 specialties, including approximately 862 physicians and 958 advanced practice clinicians. Baptist Health’s physician network also includes more than 2,000 independent physicians.

EEO Statement

Baptist Health is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer, and seeks to employ individuals without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, citizenship status, military status, religious or political beliefs, protected veteran status, employment status or any other protected class identified in any federal, state, or local law. Baptist Health specifically encourages minority, female, disabled, veteran and other candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply and strengthen our team.

Please note that Baptist Health is a drug-free workplace and employment with Baptist Health is subject to post offer, pre-employment drug testing.

NOTICE OF NONDISCRMISSION AND ACCESSIBILITY TO SERVICES

Persons with hearing and speech impairments can contact Baptist Health facilities by using the Kentucky Relay Service, a toll-free telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD). For voice to TDD, call 800.648.6057. For TDD to voice, call 800.648.6056.

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