HED Expands Healthcare Strategy Leadership with Kimberly Freese in Chicago

CHICAGO — HED announces the addition of Kimberly Freese, RN, MBB, as Strategy & Business Development Leader in its Healthcare practice. Based in Chicago, Freese brings a clinically grounded perspective to healthcare strategy, strengthening the firm’s ability to align care delivery, operational performance, and the built environment.

Freese’s arrival reflects a clear priority: deepen strategic leadership in healthcare by connecting real-world clinical experience to planning and design decisions. Her work centers on three essential contributions, translating frontline insight into actionable strategy, advancing patient safety and caregiver experience, and guiding complex systems toward clarity and alignment.

A registered nurse and Patient Safety Leadership Fellow, Freese understands healthcare environments from within. She has worked across clinical operations, capital planning, and process improvement, shaping initiatives that respond to the realities of care delivery while advancing long-term institutional goals.

Her experience spans national healthcare systems and major institutions, including work with the Veterans Affairs National Headquarters, Indiana University Health, and Franciscan Health. Across these engagements, she has led efforts ranging from portfolio-wide space utilization strategies to inpatient tower development and systemwide capital improvements, each grounded in a careful reading of how environments influence outcomes, efficiency, and experience.

Her perspective reinforces a simple but often overlooked truth. Healthcare design begins long before lines are drawn. It begins with listening—to clinicians, to patients, to systems under strain—and translating those insights into thoughtful strategies that hold under pressure.

Freese’s addition builds on HED’s continued investment in healthcare leadership across key markets, strengthening its ability to partner with clients navigating change, growth, and uncertainty.