Jean Putnam

Jean Putnam, DNP, R.N., NEA-BC, is chief nurse executive of Baptist Health South Florida, the region’s largest not-for-profit healthcare system with more than 27,000 employees and 4,000 affiliated physicians. She is responsible for overseeing more than 9,200 nurses and clinical partners, the development of the nursing practice for the system, as well as the organization’s patient experience efforts.

Ms. Putnam has held a variety of nursing leadership roles for more than 30 years. Prior to joining Baptist Health, she was the chief nursing officer for Community Health Network, a 10-hospital system in Indianapolis. In that role, Ms. Putnam instituted several novel practices that allowed Community Health Network to better meet the needs of its nurses and patients, including the implementation of a virtual nursing model, the expansion of diversity programs in nursing, the creation of a $2 million endowment to support nursing excellence, the implementation of a relationship-based care model and the achievement of top decile first-year nurse retention. Before that, she served as the system’s chief clinical quality officer and was responsible for the system’s quality, accreditation, performance improvement, case management and risk management activities.

Ms. Putnam earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at the University of Indianapolis, a Master of Science in nursing health policy at the University of Maryland, and Bachelor of Science in nursing and Associate of Applied Science in nursing degrees from Purdue University.

Ms. Putnam has received recognition by several organizations, including the Excellence in Leadership Award from Executive Women in Healthcare in 2022 and the Patient Experience Innovator of the Year Award from Millenium Alliance in 2021. In addition to advocating for nurses and healthcare throughout her career, Ms. Putnam also has sponsored and led numerous research projects. She has been the principal investigator of nearly $10 million in federal, state, and private research grants aimed at nursing innovation and care design remodel.