Rulon Stacey, president and CEO of Poudre Valley Health System in northern Colorado, has become chairman-elect of the American College of Healthcare Executives, an international professional society of more than 30,000 healthcare executives.

He took office March 20, 2010, during ACHE’s 53rd annual Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago. He is the 77th chairman-elect since the organization was founded in 1933. The ACHE is the top professional organization worldwide for executives who lead hospitals, health systems and other healthcare organizations.

“This is a critical time in the history of health care,” Stacey said. “The commitment by healthcare executives for excellence will positively impact all of the patients a healthcare organization sees and all of the employees who work to meet patient and customer needs.”

In a healthcare blog that Stacey writes almost daily, he stated, “I’m honored to be involved with ACHE and all the organization does to promote excellence in healthcare management. Clearly this is one of the greatest honors of my career.”

Read the blog at http://visionary.pvhs.org.

The chairman-elect position is voluntary and will not interrupt Stacey’s role as the top executive for PVHS. The ACHE position spans three years, during which time he will serve year-long terms each as the chairman-elect, chairman and immediate past chairman.

Stacey, who holds a doctorate in health policy and is an ACHE fellow, has been the PVHS president and CEO since 1996. Under his leadership, the 4,300-employee health system, headquartered in Fort Collins, Colo., and serving northern Colorado, Wyoming and southwestern Nebraska, received the nation’s top honor for performance excellence in 2008: the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. PVHS was one of only three organizations nationwide and the only healthcare recipient of the 2008 award.

In a March 20 press release, the ACHE offered this biographical information about Stacey:
Board certified in healthcare management as an ACHE Fellow, Stacey has served as an ACHE Governor since 2007. He was the ACHE Regent for Colorado from 2004 to 2007. Stacey received ACHE’s Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for Young Healthcare Executive of the Year in 1999.

In addition to his work with ACHE, Stacey holds numerous board appointments, including chair of the Colorado Hospital Association Political Action Committee, member of its Compensation Committee and a member of the Medical Services Board of Colorado, to which he was appointed by the state’s governor.

He was chair of the board of directors of VHA Mountain States from 2006 to 2008; a member of the American Hospital Association’s (AHA’s) Board of Trustees Committee on Governance from 2004 to 2007; the Colorado delegate for the AHA Regional Policy Board from 2002 to 2005; and a member of the Colorado Hospital Association’s Board of Directors from 1999 to 2005.

Prior to joining PVHS, Stacey was executive vice president/COO of St. Francis Hospital and Health Center, Blue Island, Ill., from 1994 to 1996; chief executive officer of St. Vincent General Hospital, Leadville, Colo., and Summit Medical Center, Frisco, Colo., from 1989 to 1994; and assistant administrator of Ninth Strategic Hospital, Beale Air Force Base, Calif., from 1986 to 1989.

He earned his doctoral degree in health policy from the University of Colorado at Denver and his master’s degree in health administration and bachelor’s degree in economics from Brigham Young University.

About the American College of Healthcare Executives

The ACHE is an international professional society of more than 30,000 healthcare executives who lead hospitals, healthcare systems and other healthcare organizations. ACHE is known for its prestigious FACHE® credential, signifying board certification in healthcare management, and its educational programs including the annual Congress on Healthcare Leadership, which draws more than 4,000 participants each year. ACHE's established network of more than 80 chapters provides access to networking, education and career development at the local level. In addition, ACHE is known for its magazine, Healthcare Executive, and its journals, the Journal of Healthcare Management and Frontiers of Health Services Management, as well as groundbreaking research, career development and public policy programs. ACHE's publishing division, Health Administration Press, is one of the largest publishers of books and journals on all aspects of health services management including textbooks