From ad agencies to insurance giants to Wall Street, the marketing chiefs steering the nation’s top children’s hospitals didn’t all start in healthcare — but they’ve ended up running some of its highest-stakes brands.
U.S. News & World Report named 11 hospitals to its 2026-27 Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll on Sept. 15 (they are listed alphabetically). Here are the marketing leaders at each:
1. Kary McIlwain. Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Ms. McIlwain joined the hospital in 2015 as vice president of marketing, following a career in advertising that included serving as president and North American managing partner of Y&R. She oversees the hospital’s marketing profit and loss, along with media relations, external communications, owned, earned and paid media, the corporate website and customer relationship management.
2. Chris Butler. Chief Marketing Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital. Mr. Butler joined Boston Children’s in 2026. He previously served as chief marketing officer at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine and deputy chief marketing officer at Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health, where he helped integrate marketing teams from four health systems into one enterprise brand and communications function. His background also includes senior consumer-marketing roles at Anthem, Premier Health Partners, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America.
3. Kristin Harding. Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Children’s Hospital Colorado (Aurora). Ms. Harding leads strategic marketing, communications and brand initiatives across five core disciplines: brand strategy and creative services, digital experience, marketing strategy, public relations and internal communications. She previously served as chief marketing officer for Individual Solutions at Transamerica.
4. Dawn Wilcox. Chief Marketing, Communications and Corporate Partnerships Officer at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Ms. Wilcox has led corporate partnerships at CHLA since 2013 and founded the hospital’s Make March Matter fundraising campaign, which has raised more than $1 million annually for pediatric care since 2016.
5. Stephanie Hogarth. Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Ms. Hogarth leads the enterprise marketing and public relations team at CHOP, working closely with strategy, clinical and foundation leaders to deliver data- and insights-driven marketing strategies.
6. Angela McPike. Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Children’s National Hospital (Washington, D.C.). Ms. McPike was named to the role in May 2026. She previously spent nearly five years as senior vice president of marketing and public relations at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.
7. Stephanie Ebken. Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer and Chief of Staff to the President and CEO at Cincinnati Children’s. Ms. Ebken has overseen marketing and communications at the hospital since 2019 and was promoted to her current title in 2022, after joining as a market analyst in 2004.
8. Donna Teach. Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Columbus, Ohio). Ms. Teach oversees all marketing, communication and digital functions at the hospital, the nation’s largest pediatric hospital and research institute by patient visits.
9. Wendy Piñero-DePencier. Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Ms. Piñero-DePencier previously served as vice president of brand and campaigns at World Vision and vice president of marketing at T-Mobile USA.
10. Kelly Jo Golson. Executive Vice President and Chief Brand and External Affairs Officer at Texas Children’s Hospital (Houston). Ms. Golson joined Texas Children’s in 2025 after nearly 17 years at Charlotte, N.C.-based Advocate Health, where she most recently served as executive vice president and chief brand, communications and consumer officer.
11. Mendy Nestor. Director of Marketing Communications at UPMC Children’s Hospital Foundation, the philanthropic arm of UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
