President Cheryl Ficara (Hartford Hospital)
Cheryl Ficara, RN, MS, NEA-BC
President, Hartford Hospital & Hartford Region
Senior Vice President, Hartford HealthCare (HHC)
Always a nurse first, Cheryl Ficara, President of Hartford Hospital and Senior Vice President of Hartford HealthCare, has built a career on trust, expertise, and thoughtful leadership since joining Hartford Hospital in 1990. She served as Vice President of Patient Care Services from 2011 until the fall of 2020 and then Senior Vice President of Operations for the hospital, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and myriad changes in the healthcare environment, before being named President.
Throughout her career, Cheryl has worked in Critical Care, Surgical Services and Perioperative Services, taking on leadership roles, mentoring colleagues and developing initiatives – all with a steadfast focus on improving patient care.
Hartford HealthCare’s flagship organization, Hartford Hospital, is an 867-bed, level 1 trauma center in Hartford, Conn., with an operating revenue of $2 billion annually. In 2023, Hartford Hospital was recognized by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 best hospitals for cardiac surgery and a Top 100 teaching hospital; earned an “A” Safety Grade from Leapfrog; and was named a top metro hospital by US News & World Report. Hartford Hospital was also named New England’s first and only Comprehensive Cardiac Center by the Joint Commission and received a perfect score in cardiac surgery from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
She has served as Executive Sponsor for several Hartford HealthCare councils including perioperative services and clinical care redesign. She has a proven track record of strategic leadership, organizational culture building, and performance improvement in a challenging and rapidly evolving healthcare environment. She has a steadfast focus on patient experience, staff engagement, resilience, and wellness.
Cheryl’s legacy at Hartford Hospital is apparent throughout the Hartford Hospital campus, contributing directly to the health system’s success. She has devised and implemented a variety of new roles to support growth and talent development, including an OR and Surgical Technician Fellowship and a New Nurse Manager Cohort.
Cheryl is an active board member of several organizations and is a member of professional organizations, including the American Organization for Nursing Leadership.
She is a graduate of the University of Connecticut, where she earned both a Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing and a Master of Science in Nursing. She has completed the Nursing Leaders Program from Wharton and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Cheryl resides in Somers, Conn., with her husband Bob. She has two sons, Garrett and Austin.
