Sentara hires supply chain exec

Jennifer McPherren joins the Norfolk-based health care system

Published January 21, 2021 by Sydney Lake

Jennifer McPherren. Photo courtesy Sentara Healthcare

Norfolk-based Sentara Healthcare announced Thursday it has hired Jennifer McPherren as its vice president of supply chain, effective March 15.

She succeeds Doug Farley who retired in May 2020.

McPherren serves as the vice president of supply chain management and procurement services with Northwestern Memorial Healthcare in Chicago. In her new role, she will focus on the supply chain for the health care system that includes 12 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina, more than 300 care sites and 30,000 employees.

“The pandemic revealed the choke points and weaknesses in the worldwide supply chain,” Terrie Edwards, Sentara corporate vice president who oversees supply chain, said in a statement. “We’re taking a more strategic approach to purchasing in the future and we believe Jennifer is the person to take us there.”

McPherren specializes in strategic sourcing, service line contracting, value analysis, enterprise resource planning and system integration.

“The Sentara system’s desire to invest in a progressive supply chain platform really drew me to them,” McPherren said in a statement. “It was clear from every conversation that the organization is open to a fresh approach to solving complex procurement challenges.”

McPherren earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Massachusetts and her executive master’s degree in business administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.