September 2022

The year 2021 saw diversity, equity, and inclusion make it to the top of the agenda for most firms. However, we still have a long way to go before we truly achieve the balance that reflects our society’s reality.

Launched in succession to our Women in Business report last year, our new global series, Her Corner Office, brings to light the stories of opportunities, challenges, and achievements that catapulted leading women executives to success.

Our next episode features Catherine Krna, Chief Operating Officer and President, Syllable Healthcare at Syllable.

“Diversity is not important for diversity’s sake. I think better business decisions are made because diversity of opportunity and experience really matters.”

In her conversation with Tom Koch, Senior Partner at Kingsley Gate, Catherine takes us through her journey to finding her passion for the healthcare sector, the relevance of trust and clarity as definitions of great leaders, the importance of having a mentor and working toward building the right mentor-mentee relationship, and how her leadership style leads to building the right culture and engagement within the organization.

Catherine also lets us in on her leadership superpower; and balancing the idea of diversity vis-a-vis culture fit.

About Catherine Krna

Catherine Krna is the Chief Operating Officer and President, Syllable Healthcare at Syllable—an AI-enabled healthcare services company that transforms the way health systems provide access to care. In her role, Catherine has accountability for partnerships, customer success, and strategic business operations areas.

Prior to Syllable, Catherine served as Stanford Health Care’s Chief Administrative Officer of Ambulatory Care and Service Lines and President and CEO of University HealthCare Alliance. While at Stanford Health Care, Catherine led the system’s ambulatory network of care. She oversaw faculty and community footprints with accountability for over 2,000 employees, 1.5m outpatient clinic visits, and was accountable for the performance of 12 clinical Service Lines across patient access, patient experience, quality, and value-based metrics.

Earlier, Catherine served as a Senior Vice President at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City, reporting to the CEO. While at HSS, Catherine had strategic and operational accountability for HSS’s Service Lines inclusive of clinical operations and academic and research programming. She also had operational accountability for the system’s Physician Assistants, International Center, Ambassador Services (Patient Accommodations), Physician Referral Service, and regional satellite offices.