Dr. Airica Steed serves as the first woman, first Black person and first nurse to be appointed as the Chief Executive Officer and President for The MetroHealth System in Cleveland, Ohio, comprised of $1.7B net revenue, five acute and specialty-care hospitals, 8,000 employees and providers, over 40 ambulatory care locations and one of the most highly regarded academic public health systems across the country. She is renowned for spearheading large scale transformations encompassing greater than $300M in combined financial improvements, top decile quality/safety performance outcomes and healthy profitable growth, as well as making monumental groundbreaking advancements in health equity and eradicating health care disparities. As a proud fourth generation nurse, she is fighting passionately to zero out the death gap, to make sure that every person has an equal chance at living a long and healthy life and to simultaneously lift up the wealth in underserved communities.  Dr. Steed is a vastly accomplished and award-winning transformational health care executive with over 20 years of exceptional leadership experience and a proven track record of driving results, including recognition as: •    Modern Healthcare’s “Top Women Leaders,” “Top 25 Minority Leaders in Healthcare,” “Top 25 Healthcare Innovators” and "Up & Comer" •  Diversity MBA magazine’s "Top 100 Executive Leaders Under 50" •  Becker's Hospital Review’s “Women Hospital Presidents and CEO’s to Know,” "Top 130 Female Healthcare Leaders to Know," “Black Healthcare Leaders to Know” and "Rising Star"  Dr. Steed is recognized as a strategic and visionary change leader, transformational architect and international expert in Lean Six Sigma, Malcolm Baldrige framework and “Big 4” management consulting across academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, safety net organizations, ambulatory clinics and networks, multi-site clinically integrated health care systems and Federally Qualified Health Centers. She is an avid speaker on the national and international level, a published author and a board member and faculty member spanning several organizations. She received her Doctorate of Education in Ethical Leadership (Ed.D) with distinction, Masters of Business Administration (MBA), Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and numerous certifications, including Master Black Belt and International Trainer in Lean Six Sigma and is pursuing a second Masters in Global Development from Harvard University.