Healthcare Executive - November/December 2013 - 90

Chapter News
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Perspectives

The Path to Chapter Leadership
Chapter presidents share their success stories.

ACHE chapters are run by enthusiastic volunteers who devote many
hours to providing various services
and value to their local members
in addition to working at their day
jobs as healthcare executives.
Leadership skills are developed as
chapter leaders work their way up
toward the position of chapter
president. ACHE spoke with three
current and immediate past presidents of chapters: Calvin Hung,
FACHE, immediate past president,
Greater Charlotte Healthcare
Executives; Ann-Marie A. Knight,
FACHE, president, ACHE—
North Florida Chapter; and
Johnathan W. Prins, RN, FACHE,
president, Healthcare Leaders of
New York, to find out how they
became active with their chapter,
how they progressed to leading the
chapter, and their successes and
challenges.
How It All Began
Ann-Marie A. Knight, FACHE,
operations administrator, Mayo
Clinic Jacksonville (Fla.), started
getting involved with her chapter
through her colleagues when she
was in the Navy. She attended education sessions and then expressed
interest to ACHE—North Florida
Chapter’s leadership in serving on
its board.
Knight first served as director-atlarge, representing the Navy, from

Healthcare Executive
NOV/DEC 2013

2005 to 2007. She planned events,
learned about chapter marketing and
communications, and gained a better understanding of the roles of
other chapter leaders. After her term
was complete, she served as communications director from 2007–2011,
handling the chapter’s newsletter
and event announcements. She
served as president-elect for two
years before starting her two-year
term as chapter president.
“My favorite aspects of my role are
networking and engaging with executives in the community,” Knight
says. “I wouldn’t have that exposure
without ACHE.”
Johnathan W. Prins, RN, FACHE,
director of operations, NewYorkPresbyterian Hospital/Westchester
Division, White Plains, N.Y., began
his involvement with his local chapter while a graduate student at Texas
A&M University. When he began
his internship in New York, he
learned about Healthcare Leaders of
New York, started attending chapter
events and has remained active with
the chapter ever since.
In 2005, Prins became a member
of the membership committee,
then joined the board as vice president in 2010.
“A past president, who is very
involved and became a mentor to

me, encouraged me to continue on
the chapter board,” he says. “This
eventually led me to running for
and subsequently being elected
president-elect.”
Calvin Hung, FACHE, administrator/AVP, Carolinas Healthcare
System, Charlotte, N.C., learned
about Greater Charlotte
Healthcare Executives through his
graduate program at the University
of North Carolina at Charlotte.
The board’s student liaison from
his program kept him informed
about chapter events. Later,
GCHE sent a call to action to get
involved, and Hung has been serving GCHE for eight years.
Initially, GCHE had little structure
to its formal board and committees—everyone helped out however
they could. An outreach committee
was developed, and Hung served as
its chair. He organized and completed the chapter’s quarterly newsletter, as well as updated and
maintained the chapter’s website,
which he considered a great learning experience for understanding
public relations and marketing.
Despite having no IT background,
Hung became known as a “webmaster,” adding to his skillset.
“My knowledge pushed me toward
a leadership role, and I was nominated for president-elect,” says
Hung.
Term Accomplishments and Plans
All three of these leaders have presided over numerous accomplishments
for their chapter. For instance, Prins
has been focusing on a diversity initiative for HLNY. The chapter

Healthcare Executive - November/December 2013

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