Brian A. Nester, D.O., M.S., M.B.A., F.A.C.O.E.P. ’84

Distinguished Alumni Award

Presented for outstanding service and accomplishment in at least one of the following areas: community, state, nation, church, profession, academic and/or service organizations.

Brian A. Nester serves as president and chief executive officer of Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), an integrated healthcare delivery network with eight hospital campuses and a Children’s Hospital in eastern Pennsylvania. LVHN has over 18,000 employees, including an employed physician group with over 1,200 providers. LVHN’s flagship facility, Lehigh Valley Hospital, is consistently named one of the top 100 hospitals in the United States. Prior to his current position, Nester served in several other senior positions in business development and emergency medicine at LVHN, including chief strategy officer. Nester is a member of the American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board, the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Management Program Advisory Board at Columbia University and he holds the Leonard Parker Pool Endowed Chair of Health Systems Management at LVHN.

After graduating from Albright College in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, Nester attended the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, where he earned his Doctor of Osteopathy degree and Master of Science degree in clinical emergency medicine. He completed his medical internship at Metropolitan Hospital in Philadelphia and his residency in emergency medicine at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, where he served as faculty for several years before joining LVHN in 1998.

In 2004, Nester received his Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia University in New York City, where he has served as a regular guest lecturer at the Graduate School of Business and Mailman School of Public Health for the last 15 years, speaking on issues related to healthcare reform, population health management, strategy and business development. He was conferred the status of Certified Physician Executive by the American College of Physician Executives in 2005, received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2016, and earned a Certificate of Professional Development in Finance from The Wharton School in Philadelphia in 2019.

Nester and his wife, Tina, who is also an emergency physician, are active in several charitable causes including LVHN, United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, Valley Youth House, Lehigh University, the March of Dimes Foundation and The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania — where Nester also serves as a board member. Additionally, he is the chairman of the board of the Lehigh Valley Physician Hospital Organization and speaks nationally on issues related to physician integration and business development.

In 2017, Nester gave an Experience Event presentation to Albright students entitled, “The Business of Healthcare: Ramblings on healthcare reform and strategy form an ER doc,” and in the spring of 2015, he was one of three healthcare professionals featured in The Albright Reporter’s story, “Losing Less With Quality Care.” As a student at Albright, Nester was a member of the Admission Committee, Alpha Epsilon Delta (pre-med fraternity), Alpha Pi Omega fraternity, Brother and Sister Exchange, Campus Center Board, Dorm Council, Orientation Leader and Skull & Bones. He and his sister, Susan Johnstone ’86, are second-generation Albrightians, following both parents, Marge ’60 and Larry ’57 Nester, to Albright.

Nester and his wife, Tina, have been married for 30 years. They reside in Lehigh County and have two children, Michael (25) and Nicole (22).