Executive Director’s Update
Jenn Manos
In February, Pamela Andreatta and I had the opportunity to attend the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) CEO Symposium. ASAE represents more than 21,000 association executives and industry partners representing more than 9,300 organizations. ASAE helps associations and
association professionals transform organizations through education, collaboration, and leadership. And yes, it is an association for associations!
The Symposium for Chief Executive and Chief Elected Officers is an opportunity for the staff executive to connect with the leadership of his or her organization to define annual priorities and determine how to work better together. This event is exclusively designed for leadership teams and allowed for substantive dialogue to occur between staff and volunteer leadership. I believe the CEO Symposium is a critical pathway for success for SSH leadership teams and allows for an opportunity to build strong partnerships and establish a culture of trust.
The two-day immersive program provided insight into challenges facing association leaders and highlighted the value of informed policy and strategy as primary tools of the leadership team. Pamela and I were afforded the time to clarify issues facing our society, build our relationship, discuss important initiatives, gain insight into our organizational dynamics and further understand each other’s values, desires, and interests.
As a new Executive Director, I found the CEO Symposium enormously beneficial in building the relationship between the Chief Elected and Chief Executive Officer of the organization. The two-day retreat allowed us to develop a partnership, clarify mutual roles and responsibilities, and develop a pathway for communication and trust among elected leadership and staff within the organization. In my experience, this program is a critical component for success for our organization in becoming more strategic and to optimize the contributions of both elected and staff leadership.
Member Profile
Mary Kay Smith, PhDc, MSN, RN, CHSE.
Michigan State University Learning and Assessment Center
Like most SSH members, Mary Kay Smith’s journey related to the world of simulation has been nothing but extraordinary. Mary Kay began her academic career in 1990 as coordinator of the nursing simulation lab in the Michigan State University College of Nursing. In 2003, MSU administrators
incepted the idea that there should be an interprofessional simulation center, known as the Learning and Assessment Center (LAC), serving the four MSU healthcare professional colleges (College of Human Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Osteopathic Medicine, and College of Veterinary Medicine), residency programs and multiple hospitals throughout the state of Michigan. Mary Kay became a member of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare in 2006, which provided a venue for simulation development, education, networking, collaboration…the list goes on! In 2010, Mary Kay assumed the position as Director of the LAC and presented this “novel” idea to the Deans of the four colleges that perhaps they should pursue accreditation through SSIH. And there is where the next phase began…successfully achieving that goal in December, 2011.
Since then, Mary Kay has served as co-chair of the SSH Directors’ Special Interest Group (SIG), member of the Interprofessional Education SIG and became a site review for the Accreditation Committee. More recently, Mary Kay became the Vice-Chair of the Accreditation Committee and a SSH Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator.
To add a bit more “activity” to the mix, Mary Kay is completing her doctorate in Higher Adult and Lifelong Education Administration. Her research focuses on inteprofessional simulation situated in a virtual environment…stay tuned for more at IMSH 2016!