Caroline Njau leads patient care operations across the two largest pediatric hospitals in Minnesota, as well as nursing strategy, education, and professional development. Njau led the recruitment of more than 180 nurses in 2022, and her efforts didn’t stop at hiring. She worked to ensure that nurse recruitment efforts would also support diversity goals, with 20.6% of all registered nurse hires for in-patient care units being nurses of color. Njau is also behind an initiative to improve patient flow and planning at Children’s Minnesota with the expanded use of a forecast model for patient volumes and staffing. The model, introduced in 2021, has proven 95% accurate and has increased the lead time for staffing actions from 4–8 hours to 48–72 hours and a planning horizon of several weeks. She’s a frequent speaker and a member of several nursing and health care organizations.