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Cincinnati Children’s Ranks in Top 5% on Forbes List of America’s Best Employers for Tech Workers

Cincinnati Children’s Ranks in Top 5% on Forbes List of America’s Best Employers for Tech Workers

Wednesday, September 02, 2026

No. 1 in Ohio and No. 16 in nation overall

Key Takeaways:

• Of the 300 companies recognized by Forbes, Cincinnati Children’s ranked in the top 5% across all industries as one of America’s Best Employers for Tech Workers in 2026.
• The technology team at Cincinnati Children’s supports functions ranging from cybersecurity to high-performance computing, virtual reality, and enterprise systems that help power patient care.
• Cincinnati Children’s focus on innovation and digital advancement encourages tech workers to embrace new ideas, leverage emerging capabilities and continuously improve the health system. 

Cincinnati Children’s ranks among the Top 20 companies across all industries recognized as America’s Best Employers for Tech Workers by Forbes. 

Of the 300 companies recognized, Cincinnati Children’s ranked Number 16 – in the top 5% across all industries. Cincinnati Children’s also was the highest-ranked Ohio company of any kind to make the Forbes list of America’s Best Employers for Tech Workers for 2026.  

With over 19,600 employees and 1.7 million patient encounters annually, Cincinnati Children’s is the largest health system in Southwest Ohio. 

“We invest in our people through training, development and lifelong learning opportunities,” said Tony Johnston, chief information officer and senior vice president for Information Services at Cincinnati Children’s. “Those investments are critical in a field where innovation happens rapidly and where maintaining leading-edge expertise is necessary to deliver the best possible results. 

“Cincinnati Children’s focus on innovation and digital advancement encourages our tech workers to embrace new ideas, leverage emerging capabilities and continuously improve the way we work and serve patients,” he added. “We view technology as a key enabler of both organizational success and exceptional care. 

“Our Employee Engagement Team further strengthens our culture by ensuring all of our health system’s employees have the resources, support and sense of belonging they need to succeed,” Johnston said. “By fostering engagement, collaboration and continuous growth, this team helps create a workplace where individuals can perform at their best while maintaining a healthy and rewarding work-life experience.” 

The Tech Team supports technologies critical to the mission of Cincinnati Children’s, including:

• Clinical/biomedical engineering specialists, who maintain all equipment that comes in contact with patients.  
• Virtual reality developers, who support virtual surgical planning and simulation training to keep Cincinnati Children’s at the forefront of pediatric medicine technology.  
• High-performance computing, which supports the new frontiers of personalized medicine and cutting-edge genomics.  
• Network engineers, who ensure high-speed wired and wireless networks operate 24/7.  
• Service Desk analysts, who handle thousands of calls from employees, always aiming to ensure that every caller can “hear their smile” through the phone, providing exceptional customer service and support.  
• ERP System Team, which manages the Enterprise Resource Planning system, ensuring seamless integration and operation of business processes, including finance, HR and supply chain management. 
• Enterprise Risk Management, which includes cyber security engineers who stand as steadfast guardians of the digital landscape, championing a culture of cyber safety through vigilance, expertise and proactive defense. 

In addition, under Johnston's leadership, Cincinnati Children's became a national leader in digital innovation, transformation and AI-enabled healthcare. His team created a governance framework enabling responsible innovation at scale, establishing one of healthcare’s most mature AI programs. This foundation supports advanced capabilities, including inpatient nursing copilots, a learning community platform, and immersive virtual reality solutions, all AI-powered pediatric healthcare firsts, transforming clinical care, workforce development and patient engagement. He has engaged the workforce through AI 101 and AI for Leadership courses and an AI Summit. 

For information on career opportunities, visit: Jobs.CincinnatiChildrens.org 

Forbes and market research firm Statista compiled the third-annual ranking based on a survey of over 50,000 tech workers for U.S. companies with at least 1,000 employees. That included people  working in software development, cybersecurity, data analysis and technical support. They were asked whether they would recommend their employer to others, and they evaluated their company on things such as salary and benefits, advancement opportunities, management style, whether employees are encouraged to develop their ideas and take initiative, and if they are proud of their company’s services.