Cathleen D. Bennett

Cathleen Bennett is the President and CEO of the New Jersey Hospital Association and its affiliates, the Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey, a not-for-profit that promotes continuing education, patient safety, quality improvement and research, and the for-profit Healthcare Business Solutions, which provides group purchasing and other business solutions for healthcare providers. She co-founded Q3 Health Innovation Partners, LLC in 2018 with a focus on improving quality of care, patient safety and education in addition to leveraging the collective capabilities of the Hospital Associations of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. She also serves on a number of boards, including Patient Innovations, Healthcare Employees Federal Credit Union, New Jersey Health Executive Leadership Academy, Rutgers University, Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy’s Health Administration Master’s Program, and Rutgers University’s Center for Innovation Education Design Thinking.

Prior to her tenure at NJHA, she served as New Jersey’s 20th Health Commissioner. As Commissioner, she established her top priority by creating an Office of Population Health to promote stronger collaboration among hospitals, local health departments and healthcare providers. She convened an unprecedented Population Health Action Team, which brought eight state departments together to strategize on how to improve health in all policies. Bennett also transitioned the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services and four state psychiatric hospitals from the Department of Human Services to the Department of Health’s new Integrated Health Services branch, in recognition that good health encompasses the whole person.

Bennett began her career in the private sector, with 15 years of experience as an executive, providing consulting, strategy and management services to federal and state health and human services agencies. Bennett holds a MPA from the University of Pennsylvania, a JD from Penn State Dickinson Law, and a BA from Villanova University.