Stephanie Clements

Stephanie Clements serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at Mercy, one of the nation's largest healthcare systems. She oversees more than 15,000 nurses across Mercy hospitals and clinics in five states, directing systemwide nursing strategy and operational excellence. In January 2026, she was named to Becker's Hospital Review's list of top nursing leaders, recognized for shaping patient care, addressing staffing challenges, and developing professional pathways.

Clements' nursing career began in 1994 as a registered labor and delivery nurse in Texas. Her clinical background spans outpatient infusion, perioperative services, neonatal intensive care and medical-surgical nursing. She held progressively senior nursing leadership roles—from floor nurse to charge nurse, house supervisor and unit manager—before leading all nursing in Oklahoma. She has worked in executive roles since 2015.

Career History

• CEO, Baylor Scott & White Surgical Hospital, Fort Worth, Texas
• Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City (2024)
• Community Chief Nursing Officer, Mercy Oklahoma (overseeing 2,400+ nurses)
• Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive, Mercy (March 2025 onwards)

Education: Associate's degree in nursing from Alvin Community College, Texas; Bachelor's degree in Registered Nursing from Western Governors University (2013–2015).

What Stephanie Clements Could Bring to Mercy's Southeast Missouri Hospital College of Nursing and Health Sciences: Clements' three-decade trajectory from bedside clinical practice to system-level nurse executive positioning positions her to champion the college's mission of workforce development. Her demonstrated commitment to building educational pathways—evident through initiatives like Dragon Copilot technology integration and flexible scheduling models to reduce nurse burnout—could help the college address critical healthcare workforce gaps across the region while reinforcing Mercy's multi-state nursing ecosystem.