Hatton to retire as AHA general counsel and secretary; Golder to assume role

The AHA Nov. 30 announced that Melinda (Mindy) Hatton, AHA’s general counsel and secretary, will retire after a long and distinguished career in the association and legal world. The AHA has promoted Chad Golder to assume the role of general counsel and secretary. Golder most recently served as AHA’s senior vice president and deputy general counsel.  
 
Among other accomplishments, Hatton successfully reined in the Department of Justice in its misuse of the False Claims Act, protected the Affordable Care Act in many legal challenges, and won a unanimous Supreme Court decision to restore the government’s $10.5 billion of illegal cuts in payments to hospitals in the 340B program. 
 
“Mindy’s wisdom, judgement, intellect and wit have made her an invaluable source of advice and counsel to me, her colleagues and our members,” said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “Moreover, Mindy has brought us great talent to continue this legacy. We recruited Chad to this position more than two years ago because he brings a wealth of knowledge, practical experience and high-level government service to the association, and he has already made many key contributions during his time with the AHA. He will continue to enhance our robust legal advocacy efforts on behalf of hospitals and health systems across the nation.”
 
Golder most recently served as AHA’s senior vice president and deputy general counsel. Before joining AHA, he was a partner and founding member at Munger, Tolles and Olson in Washington D.C. and previously served as deputy associate attorney general at the Department of Justice, where he worked on complex constitutional, statutory and administrative law issues affecting health care and other sectors.