NJHA Installs Joseph W. Devine as Board Chair at 100th Annual Meeting

On Jan 22, 2019

Joseph W. Devine, FACHE, of Sewell, president of Jefferson Health New Jersey, was installed as chair of the board of the New Jersey Hospital Association, the state’s oldest and largest hospital and healthcare advocacy organization. The chair’s official installation, as well as the appointment of new Board officers and members, was held during NJHA’s 100th Annual Meeting at the Hyatt Regency Princeton.

Devine thanked departing Chair Amy B. Mansue, of Hightstown, of RWJBarnabas Health, for her leadership of the board and epitomizing the “call to caring.”

In his remarks, Devine encouraged his colleagues to embrace the disruptive leadership of the Association’s past. With the world of healthcare changing rapidly outside of the walls of the hospital, Devine urged his fellow executives to listen more to the voices of patients, staff, community leaders and elected officials.

“The status quo isn’t sustainable – nor is it optimal for good health. Perhaps the best leaders, the strongest organizations, get there by marching to the beat of a different drummer,” Divine told the crowd of nearly 400 healthcare executives.

“That was the vision of that small gathering of seven hospitals 100 years ago, and it’s the drumbeat that now propels us into our next century. It’s the foundation laid for us by our predecessors and the challenge that confronts a new generation of healthcare innovators,” Devine said. “It’s disruptive and it’s noisy and it’s exciting to be at this place, at this time, with an Association and a membership that’s setting a new tempo for the future.”

The meeting celebrated the former board chairs, presidents and CEOs of the Association in attendance as well as the original seven members of NJHA: Newark City Hospital (today, University Hospital); Muhlenberg Hospital (now part of Hackensack Meridian Health); Elizabeth General Hospital (now Trinitas Regional Medical Center); Morristown Memorial Hospital (now Morristown Medical Center); Paterson General Hospital (now St. Joseph’s Wayne Hospital); Christ Hospital (now CarePoint Health Christ Hospital); and the Hudson County Tuberculosis Hospital and Sanitarium, which closed in 1961.

NJHA President and CEO Cathy Bennett recapped her first full year at the helm of NJHA, which she said was fueled by a lot coffee and an intense desire to see how members were driving toward the broader goal of good health.

“The hard part is figuring out how to get there. I’m a realist, but on this issue I’m also an optimist. Thanks to the vision of the NJHA Board, we have a strategic plan in place that gives us that road map. There is incredible innovation and community engagement going on in your organizations up and down the state to help people live healthier lives,” said Bennett.

Under Devine as board chair, the following officers also were appointed to the NJHA Board:

• Vice Chair Kevin J. Slavin, of Hackettstown, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Health
• Treasurer Douglas A. Struyk, CPA, LNHA, of Wayne, president and CEO of Christian Health Care Center
• Secretary Lori Herndon, of Brigantine, president and CEO of AtlantiCare
• Immediate Past Chair Amy B. Mansue, of Hightstown, president of Southern Division, RWJBarnabas Health and
• President Cathy Bennett, of Haddonfield, president and CEO of NJHA.

The following healthcare leaders also were appointed as new board members: Bill Arnold, of Florham Park, president and CEO of Monmouth Medical Center, RWJBarnabas Health; Reginald Blaber, MD, MBA, president and CEO of Lourdes Health System; Amy Perry, CEO of the hospital division of Atlantic Health System; Kenneth Sable, MD, MBA, FACEP, of Monroe Township, regional president of the southern market of Hackensack Meridian Health; and Tammy Torres, DNP, RN, MSN, of Newtown Square, Pa., CEO of The Memorial Hospital of Salem County.

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