AHA Names New Trustees to the Board

WASHINGTON (July 31, 2026) – The American Hospital Association (AHA) has elected seven members to its Board of Trustees for three-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2027. The Board of Trustees is the highest policymaking body of the AHA and has ultimate authority for the governance and management of its directions and finances. 

Incoming members of the AHA Board of Trustees are:

Charles Gressle, president of East Florida Division, HCA Healthcare in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Gressle has been the president of HCA Healthcare’s East Florida Division Health since December 2019. He previously served as the CEO of Medical City Plano and Medical City Frisco Hospitals and in numerous other leadership positions for HCA Healthcare over the last two decades.

Gressle has helped lead significant advances and improvements in quality and safety measures across HCA, including expanding clinical services and access, physician clinics and freestanding emergency rooms. This has been instrumental for HCA Healthcare’s East Florida Division, which is the largest health system in South Florida with 14 hospitals and numerous outpatient sites of care in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties and the Treasure Coast area.

Gressle serves on AHA’s Regional Policy Board 4 and began his healthcare journey over 30 years ago as a nursing technician and EMT paramedic.

He received a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapell Hill and a Master of Business Administration from Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, N.C.

William M. Jennings, president of the Fairfield Region, Hartford HealthCare in Bridgeport, Conn.

Jennings has served as president of Hartford HealthCare’s Fairfield Region since July 2021. He previously served as the executive vice president for Yale New Haven Health and CEO of Bridgeport Hospital for eight years. 

Outside of his leadership roles in Connecticut, he served as the executive vice president for Tower Health in Pennsylvania, and president and CEO of the system’s flagship 714-bed Reading Hospital. In addition, he served as president of the SSM St. Louis Heart Institute and held other executive positions with BayCare Health System in Florida and Cookeville Regional Medical Center in Cookeville, Tenn.

Jennings serves on AHA’s Regional Policy Board 1. 

He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and a Master of Hospital Administration from The Ohio State University in Columbus.

J. Stephen Jones, MD, president and CEO of Inova Health in Fairfax, Va. 

Jones has served as president and CEO of Inova Health since April 2018, a leading nonprofit healthcare system in Northern Virginia and the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. He is a board-certified practicing urological surgeon as well as a professor of urology at the University of Virginia. In 2020, Inova Health became the first and only large health system in America to have every hospital rated five stars by CMS.

Jones previously served as president of Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals and Family Health Centers. Before that he was department chair and held the Leonard Horvitz and Samuel Miller Distinguished Chair in Urologic Oncology, which has now been renamed the J. Stephen Jones Distinguished Chair, to be held in perpetuity by the sitting Cleveland Clinic Urology Department chair. 

Jones is a member of the AHA’s Healthcare Advisory Council to the FBI and serves on the boards of the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. and the Greater Washington Partnership.

He earned his medical degree from the University of Arkansas and has a Master in Business Administration from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, as well as  a Bachelor of Sciences from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He is a Fellow at the American College of Surgeons and also received the 2025 Award of Excellence from the Joint Commission.

Vicki Lewis, president and CEO of Coffee Regional Medical Center in Douglas, Ga. 

Lewis has served as the president and CEO of Coffee Regional Medical Center (CRMC) since 2014.  Under her leadership, CRMC has experienced numerous national and state-level recognitions for safety, quality, and innovation. She has led the development of key initiatives, including the establishment of an internal medicine residency program, the expansion of outpatient services throughout the region, and the achievement of national accreditations in cancer care, interventional cardiology, and stroke readiness.

Before joining CRMC, Lewis held CEO and executive leadership roles within the Aurora Health Care system in Wisconsin and the OhioHealth system.

Lewis served as a member of AHA Regional Policy Board 4 from 2022-2025. In 2025, The Georgia Hospital Association Board of Trustees elected Lewis as its Chair of the Board. She is also a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Lewis earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Ohio University in Athens and a Master of Science degree from The Ohio State University in Columbus.

Michele Baker Richardson, president and CEO of HEA Consultants, LLC 

Baker Richardson is the immediate past chair of Advocate Health’s 

Board of Directors. Elected to serve as vice chairperson of the new system in December 2022 following the merger between Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health, Michele became chairperson of the new board in January 2024.

Baker Richardson has led governance through times of transition and turbulence such as the COVID-19 crisis, FTC proceedings, workforce challenges and more. Her work has been instrumental in facilitating the cultural integration of two newly merged entities, through significant leadership transitions.

Baker Richardson is the president and CEO of HEA Consultants, LLC, a consulting and executive coaching firm whose diverse client base includes C-suite executives in health care, senior personnel at top- ranked colleges and universities, and at a major international foundation based in the US. Her expertise includes providing strategic advice about successfully navigating complex non-profit organizations, growth through mergers and acquisitions (Governance and Management), and on building innovative and inclusive organizations. She is also National Association of Corporate Directors Directorship Certified.

Baker Richardson is a member of several national philanthropic organizations that direct their efforts towards addressing community needs, including Ronald McDonald House Atlanta, The Links Incorporated, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and The Black Directors Health Equity Agenda.

Baker Richardson earned a juris doctorate from Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and a Bachelor’s degree in economics and organizational behavior from Brown University in Providence, R.I.

In addition, two members currently filling unexpired board terms were also elected to full three-year terms. They are: 

Eric Fish, MD, president and CEO of Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, Ind.

Fish became president and CEO of Schneck Medical Center in September 2020. As president and CEO, he oversees Schneck Medical Center and its expansive network of 24 specialty practices, nearly 200 providers, and more than 1,200 dedicated team members.

Fish chairs AHA’s Regional Policy Board 5 and has held numerous leadership roles with the Indiana Hospital Association.

He also serves on several boards, including the Boys and Girls Club of Seymour, the Community Foundation of Jackson County, the Indiana Rural Health Association, Jackson County Ambulance Authority, Jackson County Industrial Development Corporation, JC Bank Board of Directors, and SIHO Holdings, Inc. Board of Directors. 

Fish earned his medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Evansville in Indiana.

Michael Ugwueke, president and CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in Memphis, Tenn.

Ugwueke has served as president and CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare’s six-hospital integrated system since 2017. He previously held the role of president and COO for three years.

Under his leadership, MLH achieved top decile performance and distinction as the “150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare” (Becker’s), “Best Regional Hospital” (US News & World Report) and “Best Employers for Diversity” (Forbes). Ugwueke was named to Modern Healthcare’s 2020 “Top 25 Minority Executives in the Nation,” and honored with the Baldrige Foundation’s “Harry S. Hertz Leadership Award,” and the Tennessee Hospital Association’s “CEO of Distinction” in 2021. 

Ugwueke serves on several boards, including the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Advisory Board, the Memphis Medical District Collaborative, the Tennessee Business Leadership Council, the National Civil Rights Museum and the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank Board of Directors, and was recently elected the 2026–2027 Chair-Elect of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the AHA Board of Trustees. 

He received his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., a Master’s in Public Health from Emory University in Atlanta, and a Doctor of Health Administration and Leadership degree from the Medical University of South Carolina.

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About the American Hospital Association (AHA)

The American Hospital Association (AHA) is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA advocates on behalf of our nearly 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, our clinician partners – including more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers – and the 43,000 health care leaders who belong to our professional membership groups. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides insight and education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at www.aha.org.