AHN Chief Nurse Executive Claire Zangerle named to Modern Healthcare Magazine’s “Top Women Leaders” List

PITTSBURGH – Claire Zangerle, Chief Nurse Executive for Allegheny Health Network (AHN), has been selected by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of the industry’s “Top Women Leaders” for 2023.

Modern Healthcare’s annual recognition program celebrates leading women healthcare executives who are shaping the nation’s health policy, improving care outcomes and care equity, and helping to lead their organizations with boldness and integrity.

The 2023 honorees are featured in the Feb. 20 print issue of the magazine and online at ModernHealthcare.com/topwomenexecs.

“The women named to our 2023 class of the Top Women Leaders in Healthcare are helping guide their organizations and improve the communities they call home,” said Mary Ellen Podmolik, editor-in-chief of Modern Healthcare. “Internally, they are innovators and team-builders advancing their organizations. They are mentoring co-workers while inspiring others to pursue careers in the industry. And externally, they are forging coalitions to improve access to care for all patients.”

Each year, Modern Healthcare identifies 25 outstanding women leaders, as well as select leaders in two additional categories — “Women Leaders to Watch” and “Luminaries.” The lists include health system leaders, government officials, clinical leaders, trade association presidents, pharmaceutical industry executives, insurance leaders, and representatives from retail companies.

Dr. Zangerle (DPN, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAONL, FAAN) was one of 10 women named to the magazine’s “Women to Watch” list, selected from among hundreds of nominations nationwide. She was recognized for her body of work as a nurse leader, including her leadership at AHN, her three-year term as a trustee of the American Hospital Association, and her elected board position with the American Organization for Nursing Leadership, the national professional organization of more than 10,000 nurse leaders.

In 2021, Dr. Zangerle was selected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, a recognition granted to nursing’s most accomplished leaders in policy, research, practice, administration, and academia. She also serves on the editorial boards of Nursing Management and Nursing Administration Quarterly and currently serves on the Chief Nurse Executive Council.

As AHN’s chief nurse executive, she leads AHN’s more than 6,000 nurses, and she has helped to build creative nurse staffing models and to lead the network’s ongoing nurse recruiting, retention, and wellness efforts. Over the last two years, she also has become one of the nation’s most trusted voices on the ongoing nurse shortage.

She has also led AHN’s  Magnet© recognition efforts – as of 2023, three AHN hospitals (West Penn, Jefferson, and Saint Vincent) have achieved Magnet© status, reflecting the network’s elite levels of nursing professionalism, teamwork and education. Magnet© recognition is adjudicated by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, and less than 10 percent of hospitals qualify.

“I am thrilled to be included on this list of distinguished honorees, which includes so many of health care’s most talented and respected women leaders,” Dr. Zangerle said. “I accept this recognition, however, on behalf of our entire team of outstanding nurses and innovative nurse leaders at AHN, all of whom work tirelessly to provide our patients and their families with exceptional care and compassion.”

Modern Healthcare will honor the 2023 Top Women Leaders, Luminaries and Women Leaders to Watch at an August awards gala in Chicago.

AHN, a $4 billion, 14-hospital healthcare organization based in Pittsburgh with more than 300 clinical care sites across its footprint, is the anchor provider system of Highmark Health.