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Julie leads performance management programs and national networks for Vizient.&nbsp;In this role, she oversees quality, safety and clinical leadership programs, technical sales and solution delivery, and data science and member insights.
Having begun her career in nursing, Cerese has focused the majority of her professional work on clinical quality and performance improvement. She has conducted extensive studies on the factors that differentiate top performers and works with clinicians and health system executives to achieve their objectives regarding organizational performance and patient experience. In addition, she is the author of many journal articles on quality, performance improvement and clinical topics.
Cerese previously led the University HealthSystem Consortium&rsquo;s extensive performance improvement products and services. She oversaw its Intelligence&trade; suite of performance improvement platforms, including informatics, analytics, quality programs and research, and nursing and physician leadership activities. Cerese also provided direction for the Quality and Accountability Study, which was the basis for the nationally recognized Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award, presented by Vizient to the top-performing academic medical centers each year. 
 
Cerese&rsquo;s substantial knowledge of clinical quality improvement was supplemented by her role as director of quality and infection control at Chicago&rsquo;s Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she leveraged her clinical quality improvement experience. Prior to that, she served as senior director of University HealthSystem Consortium&rsquo;s clinical process improvement area.
Cerese holds a doctorate from Loyola University with a focus on interprofessional education and collaboration. She also holds a master&rsquo;s degree and bachelor&rsquo;s degree in nursing, both from the Loyola University Chicago Niehoff School of Nursing.

Group Senior Vice President, Performance Management and National Networks

Julie Cerese, PhD, RN, MSN

Nicole (Nikki) is responsible for the Vizient Chief Nurse, Quality and Medical Executives National and System Clinical Executive Networks. A nurse for over 25 years, with an emphasis on nursing leadership, Nikki joined Vizient in 2018 as a senior networks director with National Networks. In this role, she led the development of new networks, which hold strategic priority for Vizient including System Chief Nurse Executives and other network needs as they arose.
Most recently, she worked as a nurse leader at a level one trauma center and enjoyed the opportunity to lead in both the acute care and ambulatory environments. The focus of her work has been interprofessional team development, operational and clinical improvement &ndash; including but not limited to &ndash; capacity management, employee engagement, dyad team development, increased operational efficiency/finance, improved patient outcomes and nursing leader development.
In addition to her role with Vizient, Nikki serves on the Board of the Wisconsin Organization of Nurse Leaders, the Board of a local not for profit with a focus on optimizing care for those with dementia, Dementia Innovations and has served as an adjunct professor in the Marquette School of Nursing, teaching a nursing doctoral course in ethics and health advocacy. Nationally, Nikki has served on the American Organization of Nurse Leaders Publication Committee, contributing to the development of the Voice of Nursing Leadership publication and the AONL Advocacy Committee.
Nikki earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996, a Master of Occupational Therapy from the University of Indianapolis in 1998, and a doctorate in nursing with an emphasis on systems leadership and healthcare quality from Marquette University in 2018. She holds certification as a nurse executive-advanced from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).

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