Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing Commencement Address

Laura Ferrio

(MBA '93, MSN '93) RN, CRRN, NEA-BC • Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab 

Laura Ferrio (MBA ’93, MSN ’93), is a healthcare executive and leader with more than 40 years of clinical, managerial, and executive experience in physical medicine and rehabilitation. She is Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, a global leader in rehabilitation for adults and children with the most complex conditions. In this role, Ferrio oversees all clinical operations, including inpatient and outpatient services, DayRehab programs, specialized clinical care, and national hospital alliances, serving over 50,000 patients annually.

Ferrio began her career at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab as a Nurse Intern and advanced through various roles including Chief Nurse Executive and Vice President of Patient Care and Services. She led the hospital’s inaugural Magnet® Recognition Program application, resulting in Shirley Ryan AbilityLab becoming the first rehabilitation hospital in the United States to earn this prestigious designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Her process laid the foundation for five successive designations, a distinction achieved by only two percent of hospitals nationally.

Before becoming COO, Ferrio served as Chief Advancement Officer and President of the Keystone Board at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, leading philanthropy and development efforts that increased donor contributions. She played a key role in designing the hospital’s state of the art facility and implementing its translational research model. With philanthropic seed funding, she co-founded the Henry B. Betts, MD LIFE Center, now the nation’s largest collection of patient education and consumer health resources for people with functional impairments.

A lifelong advocate for the field of nursing, Ferrio serves on the board of the American Nurses Foundation and is past president of the Illinois Organization of Nurse Leaders and the Illinois Coalition for Nursing Resources. She was named Illinois Nurse Leader of the Year in 2004 and served a decade on the Illinois Board of Nursing. 

Ferrio holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Northern Illinois University and both a Master of Science in Nursing and a Master of Business Administration from Loyola University Chicago, where she was the first graduate of the dual-degree program.