Leadership
Howard B. Chrisman, MD
President and Chief Executive Officer
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare
Dr. Chrisman is President and CEO of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, the primary teaching affiliate of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Since joining Northwestern Memorial HealthCare in 1997, Dr. Chrisman has been an active clinician and leader. Today, he oversees the Northwestern Medicine healthcare system, including 11 hospitals, more than 200 ambulatory and diagnostic sites, and over 30,000 employees and 5,500 aligned physicians.
Dr. Chrisman previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, as well as Executive Vice President of Clinical Operations and President of Northwestern Medical Group. He has also served as Interim Chair of four different academic departments: Radiology, Anesthesia, Pathology and Surgery.
After getting a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University, Dr. Chrisman completed a Doctor of Medicine degree from SUNY Upstate Medical University and a Health Administration MBA from the University of Colorado at Denver. He completed a residency in diagnostic radiology at University of Virginia and a fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Dr. Chrisman continues to serve as a professor of Radiology and Surgery, and is clinically active with a primary expertise in treating fibroid disease using endovascular techniques.

Dean M. Harrison
Executive Chairman
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare
Dean M. Harrison is the Executive Chairman of the board of directors of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, the primary teaching affiliate of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Mr. Harrison joined Northwestern Memorial HealthCare in 1998 and served as its fourth Chief Executive Officer for over 16 years. He was instrumental to the creation, growth and increasing recognition of Northwestern Medicine as a leading integrated academic health system anchored by Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern Medical Group. Northwestern Medicine is comprised of 11 hospitals, over 200 ambulatory and diagnostic sites, and more than 5,500 physicians.
Mr. Harrison serves on the boards of directors of the Center for Medical Interoperability, Executives’ Club of Chicago, Illinois Health and Hospital Association, Navy Pier, Northern Trust, Ravinia and World Business Chicago. He is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, its Civic Committee, the Economic Club and the Institute of Medicine of Chicago.
Mr. Harrison has been honored by B’nai B’rith International with the National Healthcare Award in 2008, the 2010 CEO Leadership Circle of Excellence Award for Diversity by the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency and Chicago Minority Enterprise Development Council, and the March of Dimes Healthcare Management Award in 2015.
Mr. Harrison earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University and a Master of Business Administration degree from St. Francis College.

Craig A. Johnson
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare
Craig A. Johnson is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Northwestern Memorial HealthCare. Mr. Johnson joined NMHC after serving as Executive Vice President for Northwestern University from 2018-2023. In that role, he was the chief steward of the university’s financial, capital and operational resources, including oversight of the operating and capital budgets.
Mr. Johnson began his 23-year career at the university, first working in the central budget office, then at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine as its Vice Dean and Chief Operating Officer. While at Feinberg, Mr. Johnson was a key architect of the newly formed Northwestern Medical Group (NMG) that integrated the school’s faculty practice plan together with the Northwestern Memorial Physician Group under Northwestern Memorial HealthCare. He served as interim chief financial officer of NMG from 2013 to 2015 when Northwestern Medicine began to focus efforts to integrate clinical operations.
Mr. Johnson earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Northwestern University.

John A. Orsini
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare
As Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, John A. Orsini has proven expertise in the strategic financial management of multi-hospital health systems and has more than 30 years of healthcare finance experience. Mr. Orsini assumed his current role after the 2014 merger of Northwestern Medicine and Cadence Health, where he was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to joining Cadence Health, Mr. Orsini was the Chief Financial Officer of Presence Health, a 12-hospital system created by the merger of Resurrection Health Care and Provena Health. During his tenure there, he made significant contributions to the financial strength of the organization, including the detailed financial work around the merger of the two healthcare systems.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Orsini held the position of Corporate Vice President, Finance, and Treasurer for Scripps Health, a four-hospital nonprofit health system in San Diego. He also served in a series of financial leadership roles with Dignity Health (formerly Catholic Healthcare West), a nonprofit health system consisting of 40 full-service hospitals in California, Arizona and Nevada.
Mr. Orsini holds a Bachelor of Science in accounting from Arizona State University, Phoenix, and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant. He began his career in auditing for the Arizona Department of Health Services in 1985.
