Wren Lester Appointed Chief Experience Officer

Wren Lester, Ph.D., CPHQ, LSSBB, has been appointed ChristianaCare’s inaugural chief experience officer. In this role, she will establish the vision and organization-wide strategic imperatives for transforming caregiver engagement and the care experience of our patients and their families.

Lester has an extensive background in experience leadership, most recently serving as chief experience officer at SUNY Downstate Health in Brooklyn, New York. There, she developed an innovative playbook for caregiver engagement, patient experience and intuitive, data-driven, AI digital patient engagement solutions.

She was appointed transformation leader for Downstate Health’s High Reliability Organization Journey, which focused on improving care delivery and preventing harm to caregivers, patients and the community. She facilitated health care transformation through employee engagement, patient experiences, strategic plan development, organizational alignment and tactic execution.

Lester’s expertise and contributions have been widely recognized. She was honored in 2022 and 2023 as one of Becker’s Top 50 Chief Experience Officers to Know. Her commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is evident in her service on a national Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council. As a national Baldrige Examiner from 2016 to 2018, she conducted organizational performance assessments across multiple industry sectors throughout the U.S. Her efforts have led to the successful design of processes to achieve top decile outcomes in customer experience, workforce engagement, patient safety and performance improvement.

Previously, Lester served as associate vice president of patient experience at Planned Parenthood in New York City; corporate director of performance excellence and strategic planning, and director of quality management at RWJBarnabas Health-Jersey City Medical Center in Hudson County, New Jersey.

Her academic achievements include a doctorate in Health Sciences Leadership and Organizational Development from Seton Hall University, a master’s degree in Health Care Administration from The New School of Social Research, and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Rutgers University. Her commitment to continuous improvement is evident in her certification as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from the Juran Institute.

Lester reports to Chief Operating Officer Ric Cuming, Ed.D., MSN, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN.