Jacqueline R. Ward, DNP, RN, NEA-BC
Jackie Ward, DNP, RN, NEA-BC is currently the System Chief Nurse Executive and Senior Vice President for Texas Children’s Hospital. She began her career at Texas Children’s Hospital as a graduate nurse in 1993. Throughout her career, Jackie has held various leadership roles in nursing administration and continues to advocate that she is a nurses’ nurse.
Jackie holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from Texas Tech University, a Master’s of Science in Nursing with a focus in Health Care Systems Management from Loyola University. She holds a Doctorate in Nursing Practice with a focus on executive leadership from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Cisik School of Nursing. She holds an Advanced Board Certification as a Nurse Executive from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and a Healthcare Management graduate certification from Rice University Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business.
Jackie participates in a variety of national healthcare consortiums and advisory councils including the Clinical Advisory Council for the Solutions for Patient Safety, Press Ganey Nurse Executive Advisory Council along with the Children’s Hospital Association Chief Nursing Officer Forum. Jackie is also a member of the Houston Christian University School of Nursing Clinical Advisory Board where she provides valuable insight as a clinician and leader supporting the advancement of student nurses and curriculum guidance. She has received numerous awards including Becker’s Top 20 CNOs to Know, Houston Chronicle Salute to Nurses Top 150, the Texas Nursing Association Top 20 Nurse in District 9, Top 30 Influential Women of Houston and the Third Ward Community Cloth Cooperative Distinguished Icon Honoree. Jackie is extremely honored to have been recognized as a Top 25 Multicultural Leaders in Healthcare, a Legacy Builder Alumni in Action Award from her alma mater James A. Madison Senior High School in Houston, and lastly a Houston Power 50 National Diversity Council Awardee. Her most treasured recognition is the award she received from the Vannie Cook Foundation as a Community Hero for her groundbreaking leadership in establishing a pediatric hematology/oncology clinic in McAllen, Texas where care is delivered to the underserved.
She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Fort Bend County (TX) Links Incorporated and a mother member in the Missouri City-Sugar Land Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., where she leads as the Chapter President. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Good Samaritan Foundation, Casa De Esperanza House of Hope for Children, and Gulf Coast Blood Board of Trustees.
She is married to her husband Darrin Ward and has two beautiful children, Whitney and Cody.