Megan Gillespie is the chief executive officer of Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento. She is a passionate healthcare executive with progressive leadership experience at healthcare organizations across the country. Prior to this role, Gillespie served as the CEO of Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, where she marked measurable improvements in patient satisfaction, access and safety outcomes.

Gillespie joins Sutter Health from Advocate Health, Lutheran General Hospital in Chicagoland. There, she served as vice president and chief nurse officer of the 670-bed, non-profit teaching hospital with a Level I Trauma Center, comprehensive stroke, oncology/bone marrow transplant program, comprehensive cardiovascular program and children’s hospital. Previously, she held several operations and chief nurse executive roles with Kaiser Permanente in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Gillespie began her career in healthcare more than 20 years ago as a registered nurse and has served as a leadership consultant coach with a focus on change management, elevating teamwork and innovating infrastructure to drive progress and results.

Gillespie was awarded a Doctor of Nursing Practice in 2021 from University of San Francisco’s Executive Leadership DNP program. She earned her MBA in healthcare from University of Texas at Tyler. Gillespie is board certified as a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE®), completed Harvard’s Mentor Leadership Program and The Leadership Consortium. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Immaculata University after her registered nurse diploma from Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences.