New boss at ACHE

The American College of Healthcare Executives found a new leader at home after a nationwide search to replace retiring President and CEO Thomas Dolan, who has headed the organization for more than two decades.

Deborah Bowen, 57, who has been ACHE's executive vice president and chief operating officer since 2003, was chosen to fill the top executive post at the Chicago-based professional society, which has about 43,000 healthcare executives as members.

Bowen will start her new job May 13, after Dolan's departure. Dolan, 65, will serve in the role of ACHE president emeritus.

A key organizational goal when she assumes the role, Bowen said, will be to embrace healthcare executives who studied something other than healthcare administration, particularly as providers evolve toward managing population health and work more intimately with a variety of other organizations. She also pledged to continue Dolan's commitment to mentorship and improving diversity in healthcare administration.

Bowen joined ACHE in 1992 as director of government relations and she was vice president, division of administration, from 1994 until 2000, when she left to serve as deputy executive director of the Society of Actuaries, Schaumburg, Ill., before returning three years later.

“Deborah showed us that she has the vision and capability to lead our organization in this time of significant change,” said ACHE Board Chairman Gayle Capozzalo, who headed the search for a new CEO. Capozzalo is executive vice president of strategy and system development at Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health System.

Dolan will receive an annualized base salary of $635,935 through his May 10 retirement date, an ACHE spokeswoman said. Bowen's annualized base salary will be $542,700 beginning May 13, when she begins a three-year contract as president and CEO.

“The transformation of healthcare, I think, is an important turning point,” Bowen said. “I think this is a chance of a lifetime.”