Message from your ACHE Regent
Fall 2025

Dear ACHE of MA Members,

For my first quarterly message, I want to state that I am honored to serve as your Interim Regent for Massachusetts through March 2027. I have spent the last few weeks orienting to the role and am excited to hit the ground running! As background, I first joined ACHE as a student member in undergrad, have been an active participant in the MA chapter for almost 15 years, and obtained my FACHE certification a few years ago. In this new role, I look forward to representing ACHE of MA at the national level.

The Council of Regents plays a dual role of serving as part of ACHE’s governance system and also representing ACHE at the local level. My goal through this quarterly message is to provide you with important local and national information so that you can obtain the most out of your ACHE membership.

Summer/Early Fall Recap:
• Summer “Leadership on Tap” Series—the chapter hosted four informal networking events across the state in June, July, August, and September at local breweries, including Cold Harbor Brewery—Westborough, Tree House Brewing—Deerfield, Trillium Brewing—Canton, and Tree House Brewing—Sandwich. Each event gathered roughly 20 individuals in a relaxed setting to interact. We received great feedback on this format and hope to bring more networking events like this together in the future.

• Chapter Leaders Conference—Several ACHE of MA Board members including Dave Reisman, FACHE, Lingda Hou and I traveled to Chicago on September 14 and 15 to join other ACHE chapter leaders across the country to learn best practices to grow value for our members. Keynote Katherine Meese, PhD, kicked off the two-day event describing how to navigate intergenerational dynamics to build high-performing teams.

• ACHE of MA Annual Healthcare Summit—it was great to see and speak with so many of you at Gillette Stadium on October 23 for “Leadership Rewired: Building Capacity for AI, Automation, and Innovation in Healthcare.” We had over 200 participants and learned many key components of navigating AI within our various healthcare organizations. Be sure to check out the upcoming ACHE of MA Newsletter with a full recap of the day. A special shout-out to our scholarship winners—Andreas Mason, Srushti Madhure, and Joseph Lupski (not pictured).

Higher Education Network (HEN):
A key responsibility for the Regent role is to foster collaboration between ACHE chapters and local undergraduate and graduate healthcare management programs. ACHE of MA has 17 active HENs and I have started to reach out to each to learn more how our local chapter can help mentor and train our next generation of healthcare leaders.

Upcoming Education Events:
Be sure to check out these upcoming events:

• 2025 Orlando Cluster—12/15/25–12/17/25

• 2026 San Diego Cluster—2/9/26–2/10/26

• 2026 Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Houston—3/2/26–3/4/26
o I hope to see many of you at this year’s Congress “Where Purpose Matters.” The conference will include keynote speakers including Adam Grant, PhD, Anne Morriss, and Olympic Figure Skater and cancer survivor, Scott Hamilton.
o Congress is a great opportunity to build your education credit hours as you prepare for initial Fellow certification or Fellow recertification.

I look forward to working with you over the coming years to drive value in your ACHE membership and hope to see you at an upcoming event.

Best,
Jeff

Jeffrey M. Blackwell, FACHE
Regent (Interim) for Massachusetts
jeffrey.blackwell@umassmemorial.org