Senior Director, Nutrition and Support Services

OhioHealth•Columbus, OH

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Director of Nutrition and Support Services provides leadership and operational oversight across a multi‑hospital healthcare system. This role is accountable for performance of Food and Nutrition Services and Support Services, including but not limited to nutrition services, environmental services (EVS), patient transport, and parking operations. This position leads a combination of direct and indirect reports and is accountable for quality, safety, experience, financial sustainability, and operational standardization across all assigned service lines, regardless of reporting structure. The Senior Director serves as a partner to hospital executives, site leadership, and enterprise shared services to ensure consistent, high‑performing service delivery aligned with OhioHealth strategy, values, and High Reliability Organization (HRO) principles.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, business administration, hospitality management, nutritional sciences, or related field required.
5-7 years of progressive leadership experience, with experience in a multi‑site or system‑level leadership role.
Demonstrated experience leading complex operations in healthcare or similarly regulated environments.
Proven ability to lead in mixed reporting environments, including direct, indirect, and matrixed structures.
Experience with large‑scale service line integration, operational standardization, and performance transformation.
Strong financial acumen, including operating and capital budgeting in complex organizational structures.
Demonstrated experience leading in a High Reliability Organization (HRO).

Responsibilities

Supports the VP Nutrition and Support Services in the development and execution of enterprise‑wide strategies for Nutrition and Support Services aligned with OhioHealth’s organizational goals, shared services model, and HRO principles.
Supports and coaches on standardization of workflows, quality standards, service expectations, and operational best practices across all hospitals and ambulatory sites.
Provides oversight and influence in areas where services report indirectly through hospital or matrixed leadership structures in collaboration with VP of Nutrition and Support Services.
Acts as a liaison between Nutrition Services, Support Services, and key clinical and administrative partners to ensure alignment, integration of services, and consistent application of high‑reliability practices.
Provides operational leadership and strategic direction for Food and Nutrition Services and Support Services.
Partners with identified site leadership to optimize staffing models, productivity, access, throughput, and service reliability using data‑driven and HRO‑aligned decision‑making.
Leads annual operating and capital planning processes for assigned service lines or care sites, including system‑level stewardship of site‑managed budgets.
Evaluates, supports, and advances operational improvement initiatives that enhance efficiency, financial performance, and sustainability while reducing risk and variation in collaboration with VP of Nutrition and Support Services.
Champions High Reliability Organization (HRO) principles, including a preoccupation with failure, deference to expertise, reluctance to simplify, sensitivity to operations, and commitment to resilience.
Ensures all locations—directly or indirectly managed—comply with applicable regulatory, accreditation, and OhioHealth standards (e.g., Joint Commission, CMS, food safety, environmental and patient safety regulations).
Establishes and monitors performance metrics, quality benchmarks, safety event trends, and reliability indicators across all assigned services.
Oversees patient, visitor, and associate experience outcomes, cleanliness and environment standards, service reliability metrics, and key operational KPIs.
Provides leadership, coaching, and professional development for direct reports and influences indirectly reporting leaders through strong relationships, clear system expectations, and consistent reinforcement of HRO leader behaviors.
Develops leaders and teams in the application of HRO tools and behaviors, including just culture, error prevention strategies, and daily safety practices.
Partners with Human Resources on workforce planning, succession planning, recruitment, and leadership development strategies.
Supports development of talent pipelines, including academic partnerships, fellowships, internships, and community‑industry relationships.
Cultivates a culture of accountability, engagement, collaboration, continuous improvement, and psychological safety.
Collaborates with hospital executives, COOs, AVP Operations, clinical leaders, shared services, and enterprise partners to drive system alignment and safe, reliable operations.
Partners with technology, facilities, supply chain, and operational analytics teams to optimize systems, tools, and infrastructure supporting Nutrition and Support Services and to reduce operational risk.
Supports enterprise initiatives, growth strategies, integrations, and service expansions with an emphasis on safety, reliability, and standardization.
As a High Reliability Organization (HRO), responsibilities require a constant focus on safety, quality, reliability, and efficiency in the performance of job duties. Leaders are expected to model and reinforce HRO behaviors in all interactions and decisions.