Meet Heriberto “Eddie” Cruz, MBA, FACHE

Dear Chicago Health Executives Forum Chapter Members—  

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to Heriberto “Eddie” Cruz, MBA, FACHE, Vice President of Operations for Access Community Health Network.  In 2018 Eddie achieved several ACHE milestones. Eddie is a distinguished member American College of Healthcare Executives and is also Board Certified in Healthcare Management as a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, he serves as the Editorial Board Chairman of ACHE’s Healthcare Executive Magazine, and was recently nominated as the Chair of the Chicago Health Executives Forum (CHEF) Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Eddie Cruz is an experienced senior executive with extensive health care background, who serves as the Vice President of Operations for Access Community Health Network.  ACCESS is one of the nation’s largest federally qualified health center organizations. With 36 community health centers, ACCESS provides primary and preventive health care services for more than 180,000 patients throughout Chicago, as well as Cook and DuPage counties.

Eddie’s career reflects his diligence and tenacity.  He began his career in health care immediately after high school, working as a hospital orderly and then as a patient care technician in his hometown of Milwaukee, WI.  After moving to Chicago and holding a support position in a local hospital’s critical care unit, Eddie accepted a position at Advocate Medical Group, where he increasingly assumed greater levels of responsibility and advanced to the position of Practice Manager.

Eddie joined ACCESS in 2003 as a regional operations director to assume responsibility at that time for the operations of 16 ambulatory, multi-specialty health centers including several support departments. In 2009, he was promoted to the position of Deputy Operations Administrator.  In his current role as Vice President of Operations, Eddie is responsible for all health center and call center operations.

In 2013, Eddie was selected as one of six scholars for the inaugural American College of Healthcare Executives Thomas C. Dolan Executive Diversity Program and received the National Forum for Latino Healthcare Executives 2013 Emerging Leader Award. In 2014, the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) with its Regent Healthcare Leadership Award recognized Eddie. Eddie is bilingual and holds a Bachelor of Science in Commerce from DePaul University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from National-Louis University.

Please join me in acknowledging Eddie for his outstanding achievements—

Charlene Roderick, Chicago Health Executive Forum
Board of Director, Diversity & Inclusion