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Spectrum Health Executive Earns National Recognition

Freese-Decker Named Young Healthcare Executive of Year

Christina M. Freese-Decker, president, Spectrum Health United Hospital and Spectrum Health Kelsey Hospital, has won the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for Young Healthcare Executive of the Year. The honor is given for outstanding achievement in the field of health care management.

The award is given to an exceptional health care executive who is less than 40 years old, is an ACHE Fellow and holds a chief executive officer or chief operations officer position in a health care organization. Freese-Decker will receive her award on Tuesday, March 12, at the Malcolm T. MacEachern Memorial Lecture and Luncheon during ACHE’s 56th Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago.

Freese-Decker, 35, has been president of the two Spectrum Health hospitals since 2011. She began her career in 2002 as an administrative fellow with Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids. She was named director of strategic planning and development and was soon promoted as the department’s vice president. In this role, she led system strategic planning, market intelligence gathering, call center operations and regional hospital network coordination.

Freese-Decker earned master’s degrees in health administration and industrial engineering from the University of Iowa and a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University. She is currently serving on the board of directors of the David D. Hunting YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids, serving as vice chair from 2009 to 2012. Freese-Decker was president of the Great Lakes Chapter of ACHE from 2008 to 2009 and she is currently president of the Health Management and Policy Alumni Board of Directors, College of Public Health, at the University of Iowa.

The American College of Healthcare Executives is an international professional society of more than 40,000 health care executives who lead hospitals, health care systems and other health care organizations. ACHE offers its prestigious FACHE® credential, signifying board certification in health care management. ACHE’s established network of more than 80 chapters provides access to networking, education and career development at the local level.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of nine hospitals including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a state of the art children’s hospital that opened in January 2011, and 140 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 700 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 600,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with 19,000 employees. The organization provided $204 million in community benefit during its 2012 fiscal year.