Top 25 Women in Healthcare - 2013

Shirley Weis is chief administrative officer and vice president of the Mayo Clinic, one of the most well-known brand names in healthcare. Weis, 59, is the first woman to hold the No. 2 post at Mayo, a $9 billion system that treats more than 1 million people annually in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Weis served in various administrative roles at the clinic since the 1990s, including chair of administrative services before being named chief administrative officer in 2007. She has been instrumental in diversifying Mayo’s business with the addition of health information publishing, clinical laboratory reference services and technology commercialization. Originally trained as a nurse, she spent a decade in Michigan hospitals—first as an emergency department nurse and then in administration for ERs and outpatient clinics—before becoming medical administrator and eventually chief operating officer of Blue Care Network—mid-Michigan.