SENTARA HEALTHCARE HIRES NEW VP OF SUPPLY CHAIN

NORFOLK, VA - Jennifer McPherren will join Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Healthcare as Vice President of Supply Chain. Sentara is an integrated not-for-profit system of 12 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina, including a regional Level I trauma center, more than 300 sites of care, a health plan and 30,000 team members with a mission to improve health every day.

McPherren replaces Doug Farley, who retired in May of 2020. McPherren brings extensive experience in health care supply chain leadership, including Northwestern Memorial Healthcare in Chicago and Froedtert Health in Milwaukee. 

McPherren’s expertise includes strategic sourcing, service line contracting, value analysis, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and system integration. She has also worked successfully with physicians to enhance value in patient care.

Under her leadership, Northwestern Memorial Healthcare received a 2019 Gartner “Top 10 Hospital Provider Honoree” designation, which recognizes distinguished value analysis and medical equipment management. 

“The Sentara system’s desire to invest in a progressive supply chain platform really drew me to them,” McPherren says.  “It was clear from every conversation that the organization is open to a fresh approach to solving complex procurement challenges.” Those challenges were laid bare by COVID-19.

“The pandemic revealed the choke points and weaknesses in the worldwide supply chain,” says Terrie Edwards, Sentara corporate vice president who oversees supply chain. “We’re taking a more strategic approach to purchasing in the future and we believe Jennifer is the person to take us there.”

McPherren completed her undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts and her Executive MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.  She starts work with Sentara on March 15^th.