🔒Sullivan to lead CT Children’s through its next growth phase

Shannon Sullivan vividly remembers when Connecticut Children’s Medical Center opened in Hartford 29 years ago. A native of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, Sullivan was a high school senior when the Hartford-based children’s hospital debuted in 1996, she said during a recent interview. “I remember reading about it in the paper, and here we are 30 years later,” Sullivan said. On Jan. 12, she took over as president and CEO of Connecticut Children’s, succeeding James Shmerling, who retired at the end of last year after a decade in the role. Sullivan comes to Hartford from Rhode Island, where she most recently served as president and chief operating officer of Care New England’s Women and Infants Hospital in Providence.

Decade of change

Sullivan arrives at what could be considered an inflection point for Connecticut Children’s. When Shmerling took over a decade ago, the hospital had an undersized, aging facility and had endured several years of multimillion-dollar budget deficits. Since then, Connecticut Children’s has broadened its reach and improved its payer mix. Over the past several years, it has opened more than 30 satellite locations in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York, increasing its core patient base by 60% to 1.2 million. The hospital has pushed deeper into Fairfield County, attracting more privately insured families, strengthening its financial position and raising its profile in a region with significant donor potential. Hospital operating revenue grew from $380.4 million in fiscal 2015 to $547.6 million in fiscal 2024. More recently, Connecticut Children’s on Dec. 4 opened its new eight-story, $326 million clinical tower, which includes several specialties and departments, such as a new Fetal Care Center and a 50-bed neonatal intensive care unit. In October, the hospital also joined the Golisano Children’s Alliance, a growing national affiliation of children’s hospitals, and received a $50 million donation pledge from alliance founder Tom Golisano, the billionaire founder of Paychex Inc.

Top priorities

Asked about her priorities, Sullivan pointed first to financial stability and investing in staff. On the financial front, she said hospital administrators will complete a fiscal year 2025 audit, reviewing “where the opportunities are” to improve performance. “We need to figure out some of those pieces,” Sullivan said. “It’s going to be really important for us moving forward to make sure that we have a strong operational and financial platform in order to care for children in the best possible way.” According to Connecticut Children’s fiscal 2024 audited financial statement, the medical center and its subsidiaries reported an operating deficit of $476,263, compared with a $12.7 million surplus in fiscal 2023. The loss was attributed to Connecticut Children’s specialty group, which reported a $32.4 million operating loss in fiscal 2024, while the medical center itself posted a $31.9 million operating surplus. A central challenge for the care provider is government reimbursement. Medicaid patients account for 57% of the hospital’s patient base, yet Connecticut Children’s is reimbursed just 61 cents on the dollar for its care — a rate that has not changed in a decade. Sullivan said she plans to meet with state legislators and Gov. Ned Lamont to discuss reimbursement levels and the hospital’s financial sustainability. She acknowledged, however, that reimbursement is “not just a one-way street,” adding that hospitals must demonstrate how additional funding would be used. “We’re going to make sure that we employ people in these ZIP codes,” Sullivan said. “We’re going to make sure that there are clinical ladders for our team members to be able to pull themselves out of different socioeconomic brackets and to be able to have long-term stability in this region.” Sullivan added that she helped secure Medicaid rate increases for obstetrics and neonatology while working in Rhode Island, noting such efforts require “building relationships with your government.” Sullivan said investing in staff is also a top priority. She said Connecticut Children’s employees she has met — from physicians and nurses to food service and environmental staff — are on board with the organization’s mission.

Managing the workforce

Her comments about investing in staff are notable given recent labor tensions at Women and Infants Hospital, which Sullivan led from 2020 to October 2025. In late 2024, unionized workers at Women and Infants authorized a strike after contract negotiations stalled. A walkout was averted when the hospital and SEIU 1199 New England reached a three-year agreement in December 2024 that included wage increases and protections for pensions and healthcare benefits. Then, during the summer of 2025, Women and Infants announced layoffs affecting about 11 employees, prompting 34 Rhode Island legislators to urge hospital leaders to reconsider, citing concerns about the loss of “essential” roles. At the time, Sullivan said the job cuts followed careful consideration and were necessary for the hospital’s “long-term sustainability.” During her interview with Hartford Business Journal, Sullivan said that because of bumping rights, most employees stayed with the hospital. “We either offered people the ability to take a (severance) package or to take another position within the organization,” she said. Women and Infants is owned by Care New England, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit health system. Sullivan said the contentious relationship between Care New England and SEIU 1199 predated her tenure by decades. “The union has their job, we have our job,” she added. “We are all there together, just taking care of patients.” Turning to Connecticut Children’s, Sullivan said her early interactions with staff have reinforced her focus on workforce support. “These are amazing people who are incredibly committed to the work that they do,” she said. The staff, she added, has “all the right skill sets” and momentum, and the challenge ahead will be “harnessing that” within the hospital’s new clinical tower, service lines and expanding care network.

Philanthropy efforts

Sullivan said a third priority is completing the fundraising for Connecticut Children’s new clinical tower. While the hospital anticipates receiving a $50 million donation from the Golisano Foundation — most of which will be used to reduce roughly $100 million borrowed to maintain cash flow during construction — philanthropy is still expected to fund the bulk of the $326 million project. “It’s a $326 million building, and $250 million of that is planned philanthropy,” Sullivan said. “We need to make sure we get there.” Connecticut Children’s has not disclosed how much has been raised so far because the campaign remains in a “quiet phase,” though Sullivan said the hospital has made “significant progress” toward its goal. She said her fundraising approach centers on working closely with the Connecticut Children’s Foundation and volunteer leaders to rigorously track campaign progress, deepen community engagement and link philanthropy to priorities families care about most, including access, innovation and outcomes for children. As she takes on the new role, Sullivan said her husband — who has worked remotely in education technology since 2021 — and their three children, ages 16, 13 and 10, will remain in Rhode Island through the end of the school year, while she spends her work weeks in Hartford. Told that Shmerling suggested that her being a mother adds to her qualifications for the job, Sullivan agreed. “I love taking care of women and their children,” she said, noting that her career began in social work after getting her degree from Providence College and her master’s from Boston College. She also has a master’s in healthcare leadership from Brown University. “So, I was excited to be part of a culture and a community that really cares for their children, and does it really, really well,” Sullivan said. “It’s a nationally renowned organization, and they made it really easy to want to be a part of that.”