Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM

President & Chief Executive Officer
Catholic Health Association
Washington, DC

Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, a member of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, is the 10th president and chief executive officer of the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA). She assumed the position in July 2019.

Sr. Mary leads CHA's mission to support and advance the health ministry of the Catholic Church in the United States with its network of hospitals, long-term care facilities, and community health centers representing the largest group of nonprofit health providers in the nation. She oversees CHA operations at the association's Washington, D.C., and St. Louis offices.

In conjunction with CHA's Board of Trustees, Sr. Mary leads the association's strategic planning and develops initiatives to support CHA member organizations in providing high quality, accessible health care to people of all ages, races, faith traditions, and ethnic groups.

She also directs CHA's national advocacy initiatives to protect life, promote the well being of communities, address social determinants and disparities, develop new models of health delivery, protect Medicaid, Medicare, and other vital safety net programs, and create a just health system that works for everyone, including impoverished and vulnerable persons. She has overall responsibility for administration and program development in advocacy, mission, sponsorship, ethics, community benefit, leadership development, ministry formation, international outreach, and relationships with bishops and other leaders of the Catholic Church.

Sr. Mary has served at CHA since 2009, and before her selection as president and CEO, Sr. Mary served as CHA's vice president of sponsorship and mission services since 2016.

In that capacity, she directed critical areas of sponsorship, mission, ethics, leadership development, and ministry formation, including developing numerous educational programs and resources, and collaborating with member health systems, universities, social service agencies, and community groups. From 2009 to 2016, she served as senior director of sponsor services. She initiated CHA's Sponsor Formation Program for Catholic Health Care to prepare members of ministerial juridic persons to carry out their canonical responsibility as stewards of the Catholic Church's health ministry. Under Sr. Mary's leadership, CHA launched the Center for Theology and Ethics in Catholic Health in 2003 to offer faithful guidance for health care leaders, clinicians, and the Church on complex ethical issues impacting Catholic health care.

Her previous experience includes serving in congregational leadership for the Sisters of Mercy, St. Louis, and working in health care, social service, and education, including service in Belize, Central America, and Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies.

Sr. Mary received her master's degree in business administration in health care from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and a master's degree in social work from Saint Louis University. She has a bachelor's degree in education from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. She is a member of Alpha Sigma Nu, the honor society of Jesuit Institutions of Higher Education.

Sr. Mary has served on numerous governing boards and committees. Currently, she is a board member of the Coalition to Strengthen America's Healthcare, a consultant of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and a member of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, an office of the Roman Curia at the Vatican. She also serves on the advisory board for the Center for Theology and Ethics in Catholic Health.

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