HSHS President and CEO Damond Boatwright Elected to Serve as Chair of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association Board

HSHS President and CEO Damond Boatwright Elected to Serve as Chair of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association Board

NAPERVILLE – Damond Boatwright, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS), has been elected to serve as Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Illinois Health and Hospital Association (IHA). The IHA Board is the policymaking body for the Association, which represents more than 200 hospitals and nearly 40 health systems across Illinois. Boatwright ’s one-year term as Board Chair began on Jan. 1, 2026. The first IHA board meeting of the year is scheduled for Jan. 23.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Damond in various roles on the IHA board and know that he will do an excellent job serving as our new board chair,” said A.J. Wilhelmi, IHA President and CEO. “Damond brings an extraordinary depth of experience and a proven record of leadership to this role. I look forward to the insight, collaboration, and strategic perspective he will bring to IHA as we address critical health policy issues on behalf of our membership.”

Boatwright joined HSHS as President and Chief Executive Officer in June 2021 after serving as regional president of SSM Health in Wisconsin. As HSHS’s senior leader, Boatwright advocates to influence positive change in health care. He is a vocal champion of the importance of rural hospitals where he recently authored several op-eds in national publications like Becker’s Hospital Review and Chief Healthcare Executive, sharing how proposed Medicaid cuts would affect the most vulnerable populations. He also appeals to legislators to maintain federal funding commitments for Medicaid to prevent structural changes that would rob coverage from those in need. Additionally, protecting health care workers against violence is another of Boatwright’s passions.

Prior to SSM and HSHS, Boatwright served in various leadership roles at Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) from 2001 to 2013. His career with HCA took him to hospitals in Virginia, Florida, Missouri and Kansas, where he served in executive leadership roles with increasing responsibilities.

Boatwright is originally from Charleston, South Carolina, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at The Citadel in Charleston. Boatwright worked full-time at HCA while completing his Master of Health Administration and Health Sciences (MHA, MHS) at Medical University of South Carolina. After finishing graduate school, Boatwright worked as an administrative fellow for Duke University Health System in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Boatwright is a past chair and board member of the Catholic Health Association and served as a past chair of the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA). He received Modern Healthcare’s Up and Comer Award in 2009, and in 2010, he was featured in Becker’s Hospital Review’s Hospital and Health System Leaders to Know. In 2020, Boatwright was named as a WHA Distinguished Leader. He was also honored as In Business magazine’s 2021 Executive of the Year in Madison, Wisconsin. In 2025, he was featured in Becker’s Hospital Review’s Hospital and Health System 61 CEO Influencers to Know.

Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) is a nonprofit Catholic health care ministry founded in 1875. Dedicated to our Mission to reveal and embody Christ’s healing love for all people through high-quality Franciscan health care, HSHS clinicians provide exceptional care centered on the whole person. Based in Springfield, Illinois, HSHS colleagues provide care in 13 acute-care, children’s and critical access hospitals and home health and hospice programs in Central and Southern Illinois and Eastern Wisconsin. HSHS is aligned with primary and specialty physicians and advanced practitioners through its owned affiliates HSHS Medical Group and Prairie Cardiovascular, its partnership with Prevea Health, and with many other providers serving on medical staffs. For more information about HSHS, visit hshs.org.

The Illinois Health and Hospital Association, with offices in Chicago, Naperville, Springfield, and Washington, D.C., advocates for Illinois’ more than 200 hospitals and nearly 40 health systems as they serve their patients and communities. IHA members provide a broad range of services—not just within their walls, but across the continuum of healthcare and in their communities. Reflecting the diversity of the state, IHA members consist of nonprofit, investor-owned and public hospitals in the following categories: community, safety net, rural, critical access, specialty, and teaching hospitals, including academic medical centers. For more information, see www.team-iha.org. Like IHA on Facebook. Follow IHA on X (formally known as Twitter).


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