Kristen Morris
BA, Communication, 1986
Kristen Morris is a proven senior executive with an impressive 30-year career history spanning Fortune 100 global manufacturers and not-for-profit organizations. A skilled executive leader, she has extensive experience managing all aspects of external affairs and has served on the executive teams of five of the world’s most reputable health care entities, and now she is a nurse as well.
Most recently Kristen served as Chief Government Relations Officer for Advocate Health. During her tenure she secured more than $700M in government funding and incentives to support enterprise priorities. In that role she was one of ten leaders responsible for closing one of the largest hospital mergers in recent years. She drove national regulatory strategies and secured Medicare and Medicaid coverage for new technologies including telehealth and Hospital@Home services.
Previously as the Chief Government and Community Relations Officer for the Cleveland Clinic, Kristen transformed the organization’s external affairs strategy and used her extensive Washington, DC network to position the President and CEO as a global thought leader culminating in two US Cabinet Level Nominations (one under President Obama and one under President Trump) and an appointment to the Veterans Health Administration Blue Ribbon Commission.
While running the Washington, DC office for Abbott Laboratories, a Fortune 50 biotech company, Kristen had the unique opportunity to be at the leadership table for the divestiture of AbbVie from the parent company. She is a respected medical technology payment/regulatory policy advocate and chaired the Health Industry Manufacturers Association (HIMA) Government Relations Committee during the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Throughout her career in Washington and at corporate headquarters, Kristen served on more than a dozen not-for-profit boards and managed both for-profit and not-for-profit board committees. She is well known for her ability to lead teams, coalesce peers, and use her diplomatic skills to achieve consensus and clarity for enterprise direction.
Among Kristen’s accomplishments, she has been recognized by being named among Northeast Ohio’s Influential Women – 2019, selected for the American Hospital Association Grassroots Champion – 2017, honored with the Values in Action Foundation Rescuer of Humanity Award – 2017 and identified as Working Women Magazine Leading Woman – 2014. Kristen earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA), Double Major in Public Relations Concepts and Advertising Concepts, and a minor in Math Sciences from the School of Communications and School of Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. In 2025, she graduated magna cum laude from Cabarrus College of Health Sciences with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.