jenna virant
'09 B.S. nursing

Jenna Virant is currently the Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care at M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital. She is passionate about restoring and enhancing patient care by delivering sustainable improvements and building high performing teams. She is known for building effective leadership teams and creating positive working culture while promoting innovation and change.

Jenna graduated from MNSU in 2009 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing degree. She speaks highly of her experience in the Nursing program and found herself well prepared for her next step as a professional nurse upon graduation. She shared that she was able to experience clinicals in urban, rural, jail, public health, clinic, nursing homes and veteran hospitals experiences which gave her confidence and knowledge of what healthcare was like in Minnesota.

She started her career as a licensed school nurse during a time of state-wide hiring freezes among large healthcare organizations. In this role her passion for leadership and team building emerged. She then moved into the acute care setting as she thrived in the face-paced environment. She furthered her skills in a broad array of nursing experiences and was approached by colleagues to apply for the open manager position on the cardiac unit she worked on. Jenna found her passion for reducing unnecessary variability in care through building skill and capabilities within teams while holding them accountable. She was able to apply her professional and academic experience to deliver high quality, safe patient care, while reducing costs and elevating the patient’s experience. She now has over 10 years of leadership experience. She has her Master’s in Business Administration with a healthcare focus from the College of Saint Scholastica and is currently in the Doctorate of Nursing Practice Post-Graduate Program working on achieving her DNP in Executive Leadership and Change Management.

MNSU will always be a place where Jenna thinks of fondly. She met her husband of 12 years in the first month of being a freshman at MSU. One of her fondest memories was walking across the stage at the nursing pinning ceremony with her retired nurse grandmother who pinned her. She loves to spend time with her husband and 2 children. They enjoy the outdoors in all seasons and love to travel across the US creating memories together.