Ilia M. Echevarria

Ilia M. Echevarria serves as Chief Nursing Officer for the North Naples Hospital. Dr. Echevarria joined NCH in December 2015 from the Philadelphia region where she served in progressive nursing leadership roles throughout her career. Prior to joining NCH, she served as Assistant Vice President for Professional Development at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, Administrative Director of Critical Care and Inpatient Services at Virtual Health in Marlton, New Jersey and Director of Nursing Education at University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Echevarria served as Associate Chief Nursing Officer at NCH from 2015 to 2022 and was responsible for oversight of the Critical Care and Emergency Service lines, Nursing Professional Practice Programs, the hospital-based Wound Care Program, Nursing Research and Evidence-Based Practice, and the School Health Program. During her tenure at NCH, she led the transition of the Nursing Education Deptartment to a system-wide workforce Center for Learning and Innovation, spear-headed Pathway to Excellence re-designation, implemented nursing peer review, the ongoing annual Research and Quality Improvement Conference and other nursing development programs.

In the Fall of 2020, she was appointed Director of the COVID taskforce and led efforts for the COVID-19 vaccine administration of employees and community members, establishing and overseeing a hospital-based COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic and serving as the COVID-19 Incident Commander.

During her 24-year nursing career, Dr. Echevarria has been successful in transforming nursing practice environments to foster cultures of collegiality, professional excellence, and clinical proficiency leading to enhanced service, safety and quality of care delivery. She has been recognized for being a change agent, earning the Florida Organization of Nurse Executives (FONE) Excellence in Leadership Award in 2019. She is also the recipient of the DAISY Leader Award (2021) and a four-time nominee for the NCH Leadership Excellence Award (2018-2021). Dr. Echevarria has published on various professional practice and leadership topics, including programs implemented under her leadership. She completed the Wharton Nursing Leaders program in 2021 and the Mayo Clinic Leadership program in 2017.