Cindy Christensen will retire on Dec. 31 as president of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and executive vice president of Children’s Hospital and Health System after more than 25 years of service.
“Cindy’s dedication to the lives of children and to the people of Children’s Hospital never wavers,” said Peggy Troy, chief executive officer of Children’s Hospital and Health System. “Under her leadership, Children’s has grown in quality, reputation, number of children served and scope of our mission.”
Christensen, 61, has been a major contributor in the establishment of Children’s as one of the nation’s top pediatric health systems, leading initiatives that transformed Children’s from a community hospital into one of the top-ranked systems in the country. Christensen served as legal counsel during the formation of Children’s Specialty Group, the joint specialty practice with the Medical College of Wisconsin, made up of more than 70 programs treating a variety of childhood diagnoses. She was instrumental in the acquisition of Children’s Service Society of Wisconsin, which provides community services programs throughout the state. She was the chief operating officer during the opening of the new patient care tower in 2009. She drove regional strategy in the Fox Valley and metro Milwaukee, and expanded the hospital’s research footprint. From 1981 to 1986, Christensen was a nurse manager in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department of the hospital when it was located at 18th Street and Wisconsin Avenue. Before rejoining Children’s in 1990 as the health system’s first general counsel, she was an attorney with Otjen, Van Ert & Weir, SC, Milwaukee.
Marc Gorelick, M.D., currently executive vice president of Children’s Hospital, will retain that position and also succeed Christensen in her role as chief operating officer, effective Jan. 1, 2015.
