Nicole Stallings Named HAP President and CEO
Harrisburg, PA (April 18, 2023)—The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) has named Nicole Stallings as its next president and CEO. Stallings succeeds Andy Carter, who is retiring in June after more than a decade leading the organization.
Stallings comes to HAP with nearly two decades of experience in hospital policy and advocacy, most recently as chief external affairs officer for the Maryland Hospital Association (MHA). She led efforts supporting hospitals in addressing workforce shortages, responding to COVID-19, enhancing behavioral health care, reducing readmissions, and improving care coordination. She also represented the hospital community during negotiations for Maryland’s all-payer hospital waiver contracts with the federal government and on public-private work groups focused on value-based payment models and statewide population health efforts.
“Nicole brings to HAP a strong record of leadership, advocacy, and coalition-building that will be needed to help Pennsylvania hospitals become even stronger champions for our communities’ health,” said Jim Brexler, FACHE, chair of the HAP Board of Directors and president and CEO of Doylestown Health. “In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals face historic workforce shortages, operational challenges, and threats to our financial stability. Nicole is already immersed in these challenges and Pennsylvania’s hospitals, patients, and communities will benefit from her leadership in addressing them.”
Prior to joining MHA, Stallings was senior policy advisor to the Maryland Secretary of Health and chief of government relations and special projects for the Maryland Health Commission. She began her career with New Jersey Hospital Association, working on policy and legislative advocacy.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to serve Pennsylvania’s hospitals and health systems as HAP’s next president and CEO,” Stallings said. “I have spent my career advocating for policies that empower hospitals to deliver high-quality care to patients and their communities. I look forward to working with Pennsylvania’s hospitals and health systems to achieve the policies, support, and innovation needed to realize HAP’s and its members’ shared vision of a healthy Pennsylvania.”
Stallings serves on the boards of the Maryland Patient Safety Center and the Maryland Rural Health Association, was appointed to Maryland’s Prescription Drug Affordability Stakeholder Council, and is a founding member of the DC/Maryland chapter of CHIEF, a professional organization for women in executive roles. She has a Master of Public Policy degree from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University and a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech.
Stallings starts at HAP June 15.