JoAnna Nicholson, JD

Chief Legal Officer

JoAnna Nicholson serves as NAPA’s Chief Legal Officer, where she leads legal and regulatory compliance functions. JoAnna returned to NAPA in 2025 after serving as Chief Legal Officer at Spire Orthopedic Partners. Her previous role at NAPA was Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. Earlier in her career, she practiced healthcare law at Moses & Singer LLP and Nixon Peabody LLP, advising healthcare providers, private equity sponsors, and industry stakeholders on complex transactions, regulatory compliance, data privacy, and HIPAA matters.

JoAnna’s extensive experience spans healthcare law, private equity-backed growth, M&A, litigation management, and legal operations optimization. She is also an adjunct professor at Hofstra University’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law, where she teaches healthcare compliance and M&A. She earned her JD degree from Hofstra Law and BS from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.