WEST DES MOINES, IOWA (October 1, 2020) — Brent Willett of the Iowa Health Care Association (IHCA) has been elected to the Executive Committee of the Affiliated State Health Care Association Executives (ASHCAE).
ASHCAE is an association of long-term health-care state association executives that works with the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL), which represent more than 13,000 nursing facilities and assisted-living communities nationwide. As a member of the Executive Committee, Willett will serve as one of three at-large members on the six-member body that advises the AHCA and NCAL on priorities and objectives to advance long-term care services and supports. Willett was elected during ASHCAE's annual meeting this week.
Willett is president and CEO of the IHCA, an organization that works with more than 800 long-term care providers across Iowa, including nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, and home health agencies.
"We greatly appreciate the relationship we have with the Iowa Health Care Association. You have one of the best state associations in the country," said AHCA President and CEO Mark Parkinson in an address to members during the IHCA annual convention this week. "It's not accidental that you do well. You have a great leader. In a very short period of time, Brent has shown amazing leadership. The results speak for themselves."
Since joining the IHCA in 2017, Willett has led the association and its members through monumental changes, including the largest health-care pandemic facing care-providers in more than a century. Under his leadership, the association has helped thousands of member employees with education and resources for providing essential long-term care to others during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I look forward to the opportunity to work with long-term care leaders from across the country to address the unique challenges that face the profession today and to proactively identify solutions to help long-term care residents, their families, and staff," said Willett.
Prior to joining the IHCA, Willett was the executive director of the Cultivation Corridor, a cluster-based economic development and innovation-acceleration organization focused on growing Central Iowa's agriculture, bioscience, and technology sectors via the attraction of investment, jobs, and talent to the state. Prior to his role at the Cultivation Corridor, Willett served as president and CEO of the North Iowa Corridor Economic Development Corporation, a regional economic development group in North Central Iowa headquartered in Mason City, Iowa.
A native of Davenport, Iowa, Willett, his wife Emily and their two daughters live in Ankeny, Iowa.
About the Iowa Health Care Association
The Iowa Health Care Association (IHCA) is the state's largest professional association for long-term care-providers, and together with its affiliates the Iowa Center for Assisted Living and Iowa Center for Home Care, represent more than 800 nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, and home health-care agencies across the state of Iowa. Iowa long-term care-providers employ more than 72,000 Iowans and provide more than 8 million days of care for Iowans every year. The IHCA is also affiliated at the national level with The American Health Care Association, The National Center for Assisted Living, and The National Association for Home Care and Hospice. For more information on long-term care in Iowa, visit www.iowahealthcare.org.
