Children’s Minnesota executive leadership team
Emily Chapman, MD
President, chief executive officer
Emily Chapman, MD, was appointed president and CEO of Children’s Minnesota in August 2025, becoming the first woman in the organization’s more than 100-year history to hold that title. She leads one of the nation’s largest independent pediatric health systems and is committed to advancing innovative, family-centered care.
With more than 30 years of experience in pediatric healthcare, Dr. Chapman previously served as chief medical officer and senior vice president of medical affairs at Children’s Minnesota. A nationally recognized healthcare leader, she has been honored for contributions to quality improvement, patient safety and medical education.
Dr. Chapman is passionate about bringing together healthcare, business and community leaders to improve access to care, advance health equity, strengthen the workforce and create healthier communities. Under her leadership, Children’s Minnesota has launched a regional initiative to advance pediatric precision medicine with the support of a major investment from philanthropist Tom Golisano.
Dr. Chapman is active in the Golisano Children’s Health Alliance and the national Children’s Hospital Association. She serves on the boards of the Minnesota Hospital Association, Minnesota Business Partnership, Medical Alley and Girls on the Run Minnesota.
Dr. Chapman started her career as a child life specialist, where she developed a deeper curiosity for medicine and the healing connection between care teams and patient families. She received her medical training at Dartmouth and the University of Minnesota and completed a residency in pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School. She holds a Certificate in Business Excellence from Columbia Business School and a B.A. in psychology from Williams College.
Follow Dr. Chapman on LinkedIn | Read her articles in the Kids First blog.
James Burroughs
Senior vice president, government and community relations, chief equity and inclusion officer
James Burroughs joined Children’s Minnesota as the first chief equity and inclusion officer in January 2019, and is now the senior vice president, government and community relations, chief equity and inclusion officer. He is responsible for advancing equity and inclusion across the organization as well as leading advocacy, government affairs and community relations.
Mr. Burroughs’ key focus areas include patient quality initiatives, employee recruitment and retention strategies, organizational culture and increasing financial investment with diverse businesses and initiatives that address the social determinants of health for patients and families. He also leads Children’s efforts to foster community relations, and accelerate engagement in government affairs to advocate for policies that positively impact the health and well-being of children.
Mr. Burroughs has more than 25 years of experience in the areas of nonprofit management, equity, diversity, inclusion, as well as employment law. Prior to Children’s Minnesota, Mr. Burroughs served in the Office of Governor Mark Dayton, where he was the State of Minnesota’s first chief inclusion officer.
Mr. Burroughs has a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., and completed his Bachelor of Arts in political science at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the proud father of Teresa Ann Burroughs.
Follow James on LinkedIn | Read his articles in the In the Burroughs blog.
Laurin Cathey
Senior vice president, chief human resources officer
Laurin Cathey joined Children’s Minnesota in September 2019, and is responsible for all human resource functions including HR business partners and consultants, labor relations, organizational development and learning, talent acquisition, benefits and compensation and information systems.
Mr. Cathey brings more than 20 years of experience working in labor and employee relations with considerable experience in and a passion for diversity, inclusion and change management. Prior to joining Children’s Minnesota, Mr. Cathey worked at St. Paul Public Schools where he was the executive director of human resources and ING as HR director. Within those roles, he led diversity management operations, culture and employee engagement efforts, performance management and executive coaching.
Mr. Cathey holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University.
Mr. Cathey’s interests include cooking, playing golf and attending the arts or athletic events of one of his three children.
Sameer Gupta, MD, MBA
Executive vice president, chief medical officer
Sameer Gupta, MD, is a pediatric intensivist and accomplished physician executive who provides clinical leadership across the organization. He advances initiatives focused on quality, patient safety, physician engagement and continuous improvement.
Before joining Children’s Minnesota, Dr. Gupta served as vice president of medical affairs for M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center.
Dr. Gupta earned a bachelor’s in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University, a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. He completed his pediatric residency and pediatric critical care fellowship at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.
John Harding
Executive vice president, chief operating officer
John Harding joined Children’s Minnesota in April 2026. As executive vice president, chief operating officer (COO), he provides operational leadership across the organization’s hospitals, specialty centers and clinics.
Mr. Harding brings more than 25 years of experience. In his role, he partners closely with leaders to translate strategy into action, strengthen multidisciplinary leadership of care delivery, and help ensure high-quality and equitable care for patients and families.
Mr. Harding formerly served as COO at Riley Children’s Health. He has also served as COO at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters Health System and held leadership roles at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and Children’s National Medical Center, where he built deep expertise in strategy, operations and program development.
Mr. Harding earned a Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University, a Master of Business Administration from Loyola University Maryland, and a Doctor of Education in Leadership and Learning in Organizations from Vanderbilt Peabody College.
Dave Lundal
Senior vice president, chief information officer
Dave Lundal joined Children’s Minnesota in March 2019 and is now senior vice president, chief information officer. He is responsible for the strategic direction and technical support of all information systems supporting the hospitals and clinics. He also provides leadership for the Health Information Management department, which maintains the confidentiality, quality and timeliness of medical records and health information.
Mr. Lundal brings more than 25 years of experience in healthcare information technology and leadership in domains including ambulatory, hospital, home care and insurance. He recently held leadership positions at WellStar Health System, Presence Health and SSM Health.
His education includes Bachelor of Arts from Indiana University Bloomington and an MBA from Bethel College in Mishawaka, Ind.
In his spare time, Mr. Lundal enjoys reading, hiking, coaching youth sports and spending time with his wife and their three children.
Brenda McCormick
Executive vice president, chief financial officer
Brenda McCormick joined Children’s Minnesota in August 2019 and leads our finance, supply chain and real estate departments.
Previously, she was the chief financial officer and senior vice president at Smiths Medical. She has also served as the vice president and principal accounting officer at Valspar, and has held financial leadership positions at Lawson Software, International Multifoods, The Pillsbury Company (Diageo) and Coca-Cola Enterprises.
Ms. McCormick has been recognized as a top CFO by Women We Admire, Becker’s Hospital Review, Twin Cities Business, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, and Finance and Commerce. She received her bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College and her MBA from the University of Minnesota.
Ms. McCormick volunteers her time as the Children’s Minnesota representative on the Ridgeview Medical Center Board, as a member of the St. Olaf College Board of Regents and as member of the Animal Humane Society Board.
Caroline Njau, MBA, BSN, RN, NEA-BC
Senior vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer
Caroline (Ndungu) Njau joined Children’s Minnesota in March 2021 and is responsible for patient care operations, including nursing and patient and family services, as well as nursing strategy, education and professional development.
Ms. Njau previously served as the director of hospital and nursing operations at Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital where she also co-led the Health Equity Initiative for the last several years. Caroline was broadly accountable for inpatient flow and efficiency initiatives, served as a consistent dyad partner to the chief medical officer in joint clinical improvement initiatives, and engaged significantly with union relationships. She began her nursing career in medical-telemetry units at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
Ms. Njau earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Kennesaw State University in Georgia and a Master of Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas.
Ms. Njau’s interests include spending time with her husband and two children, mentoring teenagers in her faith community and cooking.
Andy Pugh
Senior vice president, chief legal officer
Andy Pugh was appointed senior vice president, chief legal officer of Children’s Minnesota in April 2022. Mr. Pugh oversees legal services, risk management, compliance, and information security and serves as secretary to the board of directors.
He joined Children’s Minnesota as deputy general counsel in July 2011. In that role, he oversaw the legal department and served as primary legal support in key areas such as healthcare transactions and tax-exempt compliance. He also provided direct legal support to various departments and functions across the organization and its related entities. Mr. Pugh has a deep commitment to equity and inclusion and has served as a member of Children’s Health Equity Council.
Prior to joining Children’s Minnesota, Mr. Pugh served as deputy general counsel at Allina Health. He began his legal career at Honeywell Inc. and spent several years in private practice. He earned his Juris Doctor from Mitchell Hamline School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts in political science from Arizona State University.
Monica Schiller
Senior vice president of clinical service lines, chief ambulatory officer
In more than a decade at Children’s Minnesota, Monica Schiller has built a strong record of enterprise leadership, operational discipline and strategic growth. As senior vice president of clinical service lines and chief ambulatory officer, Ms. Schiller is accountable for the performance, growth and integration of all clinical service lines, including cancer and blood disorders, cardiovascular, ENT, neonatal and neuroscience, as well as all ambulatory services. Her leadership connects strategy, operations, access, quality, safety, patient and family experience, and financial stewardship across a complex, multi-site pediatric health system.
Prior to joining Children’s, Ms. Schiller was the director of strategic operations and improvement at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, as well as the clinic operations manager at Park Nicollet Jane Brattain Breast Center. She has also held roles at Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, National Marrow Donor Program (formerly Be The Match), and Fox News Corporation.
Ms. Schiller earned her Master of Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas and her bachelor’s degree in communications, broadcasting, journalism and performing arts from Marquette University in Milwaukee. She has served as a graduate student advisor to the University of St. Thomas healthcare MBA program and is a member of the Marquette University Alumni Association.
Hillery Smith Shay, MBA
Chief marketing and experience officer, senior vice president of communications
Hillery Shay joined Children’s Minnesota in 2021, as vice president of marketing and communications and is now chief marketing and experience officer, senior vice president of communications. She provides strategic direction for organizational marketing and communications. She is also responsible for defining and building an organization-wide experience strategy.
Ms. Shay brings nearly 25 years of leadership experience in healthcare and mass communication, with a proven track record of success leading national and global public health campaigns and marketing initiatives. Prior to her role at Children’s Minnesota, Ms. Shay served in leadership roles at Abbott Labs leading professional education, marketing, communications and scientific congress strategy. She also served as a journalist and team leader for more than 10 years at the Associated Press and the Baltimore Sun, including as a photojournalist covering two sitting U.S. presidents as well as the Pentagon on 9/11.
Ms. Shay earned a Bachelor of Arts from Haverford College in Pennsylvania and a Master of Business Administration from Bethel University in Minnesota. She is an active member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
Jennifer Soderholm
Senior vice president and chief development officer, Children’s Minnesota President, Children’s Minnesota Foundation
Jennifer (Jenny) Soderholm has over 34 years of healthcare fundraising and development experience. Before joining Children’s Minnesota, she served as executive vice president and chief development officer at Planned Parenthood North Central States, where she oversaw all aspects of fundraising strategy and operations for the five-state region. Ms. Soderholm has also held executive leadership positions in management, fundraising and development for healthcare and higher education institutions, including Children’s HeartLink, the University of Minnesota Medical School and M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center and Masonic Children’s Hospital.
Ms. Soderholm has a Bachelor of Arts in Speech-Communications from University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and received the 2019 Association of Fundraising Professionals, Minnesota Chapter, Outstanding Professional Fundraiser Award.
