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University of Dayton and Miami Valley Hospital Healthcare Symposium

2025 Keynote Speaker
Deborah A. Feldman

Deborah Feldman has been an active community leader for over thirty years. In her current position she serves as the fourth president and chief executive officer of Dayton Children’s Hospital.

Since joining the organization in 2012, Debbie has led a campus-wide revitalization, services expansion, recruitment of highly specialized pediatric experts, and the integration of advanced technology; all while elevating patient and family experience to top quartile performance. Guided by its newest strategic roadmap, Reinventing the Path to Children’s Health, Debbie is now leading the hospital’s efforts to enable every child within reach achieve optimal health through innovations in care, behavioral health services expansion and integration, and initiatives to achieve health equity.

Prior to Dayton Children’s, Debbie served Montgomery County government for thirty years, the last sixteen as County Administrator. In that role she led many critical community initiatives including the Homeless Solutions Ten Year Plan, the Out-of-School Youth Taskforce, the Montgomery County Healthcare Safety Net Task Force and the establishment of the Community Health Centers of Greater Dayton. Her leadership in economic development included the development of Riverscape and the Austin Interchange.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Ms. Feldman has a strong record of community service. She’s a former Board member of the Children’s Hospital Association, Ohio Children’s Hospital Association and Ohio Hospital Association Board of Trustees. She is Chair of the Preschool Promise Board, created in 2017 to increase access to high-quality preschool for children in the City of Dayton, as well as the Montgomery County Family and Children’s First Council, the DaVinci Neighborhood Redevelopment Collaborative. She serves as Vice-Chair of the Miami University Board of Trustees, and as a member of the AES Ohio Advisory Board.

Her contributions have been recognized by the YWCA Women of Influence Award, Dayton Daily News Top Ten Women Award, Dayton Daily News 2006 Person of the Year, the Dayton Business Journal’s Ten Most Influential People, and the National Conference of Community Justice’s Humanitarian Award. Additionally, she has been honored by the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio, Leadership Dayton and the United Way of Greater Dayton and was recognized at the 2018 League of Women Voters event as one of their Dangerous Dames. She most currently was honored with the Dayton Development Coalition’s Maureen Patterson Regional Leader Award which recognizes extraordinary leaders in our community who advocates for the community’s economic health and growth as well as the Dayton Business Journal’s Jayne Haley Award for Determination, Perseverance and Achievement.

Debbie holds a B.A. in political science from Miami University and a Master of Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

CONTACT

College of Arts and Sciences

O'Reilly Hall
300 College Park
Dayton, Ohio 45469 - 0800
937-229-2611