Leadership

Chief Executive Officer, Methodist Hospital Northeast

Jerrica George, FACHE, joined Methodist Hospital | Northeast as the Chief Executive Officer in May 2024 and has over 14 years of experience within the healthcare industry.

Previously, Jerrica served as Chief Operating Officer at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas. In her role, she had executive oversight for operations, security, surgical and cardiovascular service lines, trauma services, and the emergency department, one of the largest in the nation, totaling 178,000 visits annually. Under her leadership, Sunrise Hospital achieved record volumes with nearly 1,700 surgical cases per month and a room turnaround time of 30 minutes in a complex environment. Her extensive focus on service line growth and development resulted in the completion of $35 million in construction projects and approval for over $160 million for future capital projects, including the hospital’s first free-standing emergency room.

Before joining Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in 2021, Jerrica served as Chief Operating Officer of HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe, where she implemented growth strategies for bariatrics that resulted in a Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program. She also developed the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Program and led inpatient rehab growth strategies, resulting in a facility expansion. Before HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe, she served at Universal Health Services as Chief Operating Officer for Summerlin Hospital and Chief Operating Officer of Centennial Hills Hospital.

Jerrica earned her Master of Healthcare Administration and Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University. She is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a past member and mentor of the Executive Women’s Alliance.

Chief Medical Officer, Methodist Hospital Northeast

Christopher C. Ward, MD, MBA, FACEP, CPE, OStJ, joined Methodist Hospital Northeast as Chief Medical Officer in November 2023 and has over 25 years of experience in Emergency Medicine.

Previously, Dr. Ward served as Chief Medical Officer for Methodist Hospital Texsan. During his tenure, he focused on building a foundation for improving clinical outcomes, enhancing medical staff collaboration, and empowering teams to uphold the highest standards of care. Before joining Methodist Healthcare, he served as Vice Chair of Emergency Medicine at Good Samaritan Hospital, the largest and highest revenue-generating hospital in the Steward Health Care system.

Dr. Ward received his Bachelor of Science from Florida State University, his Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and completed his Emergency Medicine Residency Program at Emory University. Recently, he completed the Trium Global Executive MBA program from NYU Stern, London School of Economics, and Paris HEC.

Chief Operating Officer, Methodist Hospital Northeast

Felicia De La Garza joined Methodist Hospital Northeast as the Chief Operating Officer in February 2023 and has over 14 years of experience within the healthcare industry.

Previously, Felicia served as Assistant Chief Operating Officer at Methodist Hospital. During her tenure, she helped to spearhead Lung Transplant Development and played a pivotal role in the development of Methodist Hospital's first vascular program and First Diabetic Foot and Ankle Institute (DFAI). Before that, she served as Vice President of Operations at Methodist Hospital, where she focused on hospital operations, programmatic development, physician recruitment, strategic planning, quality outcomes, and service line growth initiatives. Within that role, she was influential in launching Methodist Hospital's first Texas Medical Board-approved Transplant and Circulatory Support Fellowship Program. Additionally, Felicia helped lead the hospital's heart transplant growth strategies and recruitment, resulting in record transplant volume for 2021 and 2022.

Prior to joining Methodist Healthcare, she directed Transplant Services at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center and spent 10 years in the Houston Healthcare market. Felicia received her Master of Science in Nursing, Leadership Management, and Education and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Lubbock Christian University.

Chief Nursing Officer, Methodist Hospital Northeast

Glenn Dennis was promoted within Methodist Hospital Northeast to the Chief Nursing Officer in 2021, after serving as ACNO since October 2019. His professional vision is to serve, develop, support, and guide staff and leaders to transform how they serve patients.

His tenured career began in 1999 as a Registered Nurse in Houston, practicing in the ICU and Emergency Services environment, prior to completing his Masters in Science of Nursing. He served as an Associate Professor of Nursing with the Lonestar College System, teaching capstone and critical care education. He first joined the HCA family in September of 2008 as the Director of Critical Care and Neuro Units at HCA’s Bayshore Medical Center.

He later transitioned to Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital, where he was in roles ranging from Nursing Director of Emergency Services and Critical Care to ACNO. During his tenure, he led multiple growth projects, hospital designations, and re-designations. He was responsible for the creation of two freestanding Emergency Departments, resulting in over a $4 million revenue increase in the first 18 months, and provided executive oversight on the opening of a Sleep Medicine Center, that exceeded revenue projections by 140% within one year. However, Glenn is most proud of having led two critical care departments to achieve the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Beacon Silver Award, as well as being an AACN 2015 Circle of Excellence winner, awarded to only 20 critical care nurses in the country annually.

Prior to joining Methodist Hospital Northeast, Glenn was the Chief Nursing Officer at CHRISTUS Shreveport Bossier Health System in Shreveport, Louisiana and provided executive oversight for nursing practice and operations for three facilities within the region.

Most recently, Glenn is excited about the journey nursing has taken at Methodist Hospital Northeast, which earned its second Pathway to Excellence designation.

Chief Financial Officer, Methodist Hospital Northeast

David Heckman joined Methodist Hospital Northeast as Chief Financial Officer in October 2023 with more than 25 years of experience with Methodist Healthcare.

Previously, David work as Chief Financial Officer for Methodist Hospital Texan. During his tenure, he provided financial oversight of the hospital, free-standing ambulatory surgery centers, and physician services practices. With his guidance, the hospital embarked upon several strategic growth initiatives, including an operation room addition, emergency department expansion, cath lab upgrade, and the facility’s first MRI and DaVinci robot. He led facility throughput initiatives to drive down the length of stay metrics and increase capacity needs while growing inpatient rehab volumes by 21%.

David received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Texas at San Antonio and is a Certified Public Accountant through the state of Texas.