Charles R. Evans is the Chairman of the Hospital Charitable
Service Awards. He is also the President of the
International Health Services Group (IHSG), a social enterprise he
founded in 2007 to support health services development in
underserved areas of the world. It is the mission of IHSG to
work with established organizations to supplement their
capabilities in healthcare management and development as they work
to achieve their broader missions. Projects are currently
under way in Kenya, Nigeria, Peru, Honduras and the Dominican
Republic, working with such partners as Rivers of the World,
MedShare International, the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, the
Ropheka Hospital in Nigeria and Indiana University Medical School.
Evans retired December 2006 as President - Eastern Group of
Nashville, Tennesseebased HCA, the nation's leading provider of
healthcare services. In this role, he was responsible for HCA's
operations in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina,
which included approximately 58 hospitals with annual net revenues
of $8 billion. Evans is a Fellow in the American College of
Healthcare Executives and is currently serving as Chairman of the
Board. He served as a Governor of the College from 2004
through 2007. He is involved in numerous boards and
associations including MedShare International, the Georgia
Association of Healthcare Executives and CSA Health System. Evans
also holds an appointment as Clinical Assistant Professor of Family
and Preventive Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.
Prior to joining HCA, Evans served in executive positions at
Memorial Medical Center of Jacksonville, Florida, and Community
Hospitals, Indianapolis, Indiana. He joined HCA in 1995 and managed
company divisions including North Carolina, MidAmerica and
Southeast. Evans was named President of HCA's Eastern Group in
2004. A West Virginia native, Evans received an undergraduate
degree from West Virginia Wesleyan College, a Master of Arts from
Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from Indiana
University.
Since 1991, W. Daniel Barker has served as Professor
Emeritus, Department of Community Health at the Emory University
School of Medicine, where he had been named an Associate Professor
in 1978 and Professor in 1988. From 1984 to 1990, he was the
Director of Hospitals for Woodruff Health Sciences Center of Emory
University, and now holds the title of Retired, Director of
Hospitals. In 1990, Barker became a Life Fellow with the
American College of Healthcare Executives (LFACHE).
Throughout the years, he has received numerous honors, including
Distinguished Service Awards from the American Hospital
Association, the Emory University School of Medicine, the Medical
Association of Atlanta, and George State University, Institute of
Health Administration Alumni Club. Barker has served on
numerous healthcare finance, advisory and strategic planning
committees, including as President of the Georgia Hospital
Association and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American
Hospital Association.
Paul S. Ellison served as Executive Vice President of The
SunHealth Alliance from 1986 to 1995. From 1969 to 1986,
Ellison served as the President of Cleveland Memorial Hospital in
Shelby, North Carolina. He has been a member of the North
Carolina Hospital Association since 1967, serving as President
1972-1973, and received the Distinguished Service Award and the
Meritorious Service Award from the Association in 1986 and 1992,
respectively. He has also served as Chairman of the American
College of Healthcare Executives from 1990 to 1993 and he received
the Lifetime Service Award in 2000. He served on the Board of
Directors of the Southeastern Hospital Conference from 1989 to
1992, serving as Chairman from 1979 to 1980. Ellison was a
member of the American Hospital Association's House of Delegates
and has served on the Board of the North Carolina Health Insurance
Advisory Board and on the Board of North Carolina Blue Cross/Blue
Shield. Ellison is a graduate of Wofford College and of the
post graduate program in hospital administration at Charlotte
Memorial Hospital, Carolinas Medical Center.
Richard L. Jackson serves as Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of Jackson Healthcare. Jackson Healthcare provides
hospitals with physicians, clinicians and allied health
professionals to ensure the delivery of timely, high quality
patient care. For the past 34 years, Jackson has been
instrumental in conceptualizing and developing more than 25
healthcare companies. His ownership and operation of staffing
companies, surgery centers, practice management companies, clinics
and hospitals have endowed him with the depth and breadth required
to thrive in the ever-changing healthcare environment. Jackson
has demonstrated a unique ability to anticipate industry trends,
identify underserved niches and create industry-leading companies.
Jackson partners with industry thought leaders and continues to
play a lead role in transforming the way healthcare is
delivered. Driven by a personal mission to inject hope and
opportunity into the lives of underserved children, Jackson
actively supports numerous local and international charitable
organizations. In 2010, he established the national Hospital
Charitable Service Awards, the only recognition initiative in the
healthcare industry celebrating hospital accomplishments at the
program level. He is also the founder and Chairman of Patients
for Fair Compensation, a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization
dedicated to affecting an alternative solution to traditional
medical malpractice reform.
Reynold J. Jennings serves as President and Chief
Executive Officer of WellStar Health System, a not-for-profit
health system with five hospitals, more than 12,000 employees and
1,126 medical staff members. Prior to joining WellStar, Jennings
served in Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer roles with
Tenet Healthcare Corporation. As Tenet's COO, he was
responsible for operational oversight of Tenet's 69 core acute care
hospitals and other facilities in 13 states. Jennings began his
health care career in 1972 at Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton,
Georgia, starting as a pharmacist and rising to the position of
Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. He has had
extensive experience as a hands-on hospital operating executive for
more than 30 years. A Life Fellow of the American College of
Healthcare Executives and former board member and officer of the
American Federation of Hospitals, Jennings has a master's of
science degree in business administration from the University of
South Carolina at Columbia and a bachelor's of science degree in
pharmacy from the University of Georgia.
Thornton Kirby has served as President & CEO of the
South Carolina Hospital Association since 2005. In that role he
interacts with hospital CEOs, physicians, state and federal
legislators, agency heads, business leaders, and educators to
represent the state's hospital community. Thornton chairs the
boards of both the South Carolina Office of Rural Health and
Welvista, an organization committed to improving health and
wellness for the uninsured. Recently he was appointed to the Joint
Commission Board of Commission Resources, a not-for profit
affiliate of The Joint Commission, an independent, not-for-profit
organization that accredits and certifies more than 17,000 health
care organizations and programs in the United States.
Thornton is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the
USC School of Law. Before joining SCHA, Thornton practiced law as a
hospital attorney with the Nexsen Pruet law firm in Columbia,
served as vice president of Tuomey Regional Medical Center in
Sumter, and spent eight years as a senior administrator of Clemson
University. His diverse experiences in law, health care and higher
education give Thornton a unique perspective on many of the policy
issues facing South Carolina.