A Profile of ACHE's 2025–2026 Chair

Armed with a strong work ethic, Michele K. Sutton, FACHE, began her career in bank marketing, but it wasn’t until a family member became ill and was admitted to the local community hospital that her career trajectory made a major shift.

Sutton had heard the hospital didn’t have the best reputation, but to her surprise, she and her family had a great experience. Sutton witnessed the compassion and intentionality with which staff dealt with her family, and she began thinking to herself that this facility had a story to tell. She wanted to be the person to tell it.

“After what I had just experienced, somebody needed to tell their story; the hospital staff were amazing,” shares Sutton. She felt so strongly that she could use her marketing skills to help the hospital that she reached out to the marketing director. When she learned that the director was getting ready to retire, Sutton applied for the job.

Despite having many connections through her involvement with numerous community, business and civic organizations, she didn’t even get an interview. Sutton says she was “mortified.”

Undeterred and still wanting to make an impact, Sutton reached out a few weeks later to the person they hired, who happened to be new to the area. Sutton offered to introduce the director to the community, and soon the newcomer joined her at various community meetings.

Six months later Sutton received a phone call that the new marketing director was leaving the hospital. Eager not to miss the opportunity, Sutton put her application in again. She not only secured an interview, she got the job. “I was a one-person administrative director of marketing,” says Sutton.

Over time, Seventh Ward General Hospital, Hammond, La., that small community hospital, started growing. It was doing well, and every time the CEO asked for volunteers from the executive team to head up this or that new department, Sutton raised her hand. As she says, “I was young, energetic, and I’d say, ‘I’ll take it.’” Because she lacked a background in healthcare, Sutton wanted to go work in those departments to truly understand how to lead them.

When confronted by a medical acronym she didn’t readily understand, she took a course to become certified as an emergency medical technician. “This course was the quickest way for me to get an infusion of healthcare education and gain credibility while doing my clinicals in our emergency department and with the local ambulance service. I knew I never wanted to be in a position to be embarrassed again if I could prevent it through education.” Sutton’s depth and breadth of knowledge now extends to every department at what, in 1993, was renamed North Oaks.

And that small facility grew into the North Oaks Health System, of which Sutton—now president and CEO—oversees daily operations. The system includes: North Oaks Medical Center, North Oaks Rehabilitation Hospital, North Oaks Physician Group, three outpatient rehabilitation and sports performance centers, an ambulatory surgery center, two outpatient diagnostic centers, a hospice agency, a dietetic internship program, graduate medical education residency programs and a school of radiologic technology.

Sutton is proud of the more than 3,000 employees who work at North Oaks Health System and the quality of care they provide to the community. As she says, “We take our role as the leading healthcare provider in our region very seriously.”

Healthcare Is a Calling

Key aspects that define Sutton’s leadership style are what actually propelled her from marketing director to leading North Oaks: a positive attitude, highly ambitious, fearless when faced with a challenge and a lifelong love of learning.

“Michele’s depth of understanding of all aspects of the healthcare industry is evident in her proven experience and comprehension of the value of every team member supporting the highest quality healthcare outcomes,” says William S. Wainwright, PhD, president, Southeastern Louisiana University.

For instance, Sutton proudly reminds the North Oaks environmental services staff that they are part of the healthcare team and just as important as the surgeons. “In the OR, surgeons perform lifesaving techniques, but once patients are moved to our surgical intensive care unit, how well that area is cleaned contributes to whether or not patients live. So, when you ask one of my environmental services staff members what do they do here, they’ll tell you they save lives—and in my view, they absolutely do,” says Sutton.

Sutton’s expertise in team building extends beyond her organization. Paul A. Salles, president and CEO, Louisiana Hospital Association, has seen her in action as she worked with experts across academia and healthcare to evaluate options and make recommendations for reforming healthcare workforce training and development in Louisiana. “Michele is a proven collaborator who is skilled at bringing diverse groups to consensus,” says Salles.

Sutton sees this as a crucial skill. “When you combine a diverse group of professionals who have built a relationship forged in trust, this is when leaders soar and greatness is achieved,” she says.

Sutton views healthcare as a calling, and it’s clear in the way she leads her organization. “It’s an opportunity for us to make a difference in somebody’s life, a meaningful lasting impression,” she says. “People come to us at their worst, most vulnerable times of crisis. And how we act will be with them for the rest of their life.” 

An example of this was at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a tragic accident occurred involving a state trooper who was transported to North Oaks in critical condition. The governor’s stay-at-home order was in place, but the trooper’s young wife, family members and 60 state troopers arrived at the hospital wanting to see the injured man. Sutton made the decision to honor the wishes of the family and the troopers and allow them to visit—albeit masked and one at a time—because she knew how important it was to those grieving. She would have to deal with the governor later.

When Sutton learned that the trooper’s wife was seeking a third opinion outside her organization, she reached out to her ACHE network because she knew transporting such a critically injured patient wasn’t an option. Her connections led her to the medical director at LSU’s neuroscience department. The neurosurgeon reviewed the chart and came to the same heart-wrenching conclusion as the physicians at North Oaks. But instead of delivering the news over the phone, the director flew by helicopter to North Oaks to speak with the trooper’s wife in person. As difficult as it was, this provided her the peace she needed to take her husband off life support. Today, the trooper’s wife sits on North Oaks’ Council of Family Advisors to provide Sutton feedback to help other families in similar situations. 

As a leader, Sutton also believes in developing the talents and skills of those around her. One of her favorite quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt reflects this guiding principle: “For your own success to be real, it must contribute to the success of others.”

Though Sutton didn’t serve an internship or fellowship in healthcare, she finds time to nurture the talents of those entering the field. Trey Holmes counts himself lucky to have been placed at North Oaks as part of a residency program for his MHA. “I was inspired and driven in Michele’s vision for me, her team and the entire region,” says Holmes, now associate director, Transformation & Strategy, Optum Health Intake Operations.

Kassandra Brooks, who participated in ACHE’s mentorship program as a graduate student under Sutton’s tutelage, says, “The most gifted mentors are those who help unveil the talent and ability within you and introduce you to a world in which anything is possible. Michele has a remarkable ability to stimulate a drive toward excellence with everyone around her.”

ACHE: A Trusted Partner

Sutton, who will assume her role as ACHE’s Chair on March 22 during this year’s Congress on Healthcare Leadership, is excited to have the opportunity to pay it forward and share her story of healthcare leadership and partnership. She wants everyone to know how valuable her ACHE membership has been to her.

“I didn’t come the traditional route, with a Master of Healthcare Administration. I learned by the seat of my pants with a trusted partner, which was ACHE,” she says. 

Sutton’s on-the-job training was bolstered by knowledge, tools and resources from ACHE. “They’re all tested. They’re vetted. And then I just get to apply them here,” she says, “so that I come out looking like a shining star.”

It wasn’t until Sutton was transitioning to the role of COO at North Oaks and sitting on a statewide committee of CEOs from across Louisiana, in a large hospital service district, that she started noticing five letters after everyone’s name. She quickly realized that she needed to join ACHE and earn the coveted FACHE® credential. She considers it her mini-MBA in healthcare.

At her first Congress she attended the COO Boot Camp session. That eight-hour, daylong course was an infusion into healthcare operations, finance and everything she’d worked with during her career. It also filled in the few gaps in her background.

Sutton recalls a previous hospital CEO who didn’t believe in giving advice. Instead, he wanted to see people take initiative. When Sutton was offered the opportunity to take on her first construction project, she didn’t hesitate. She admits she didn’t know what a white box was, how many K watts was needed for a particular generator, or how much steam came out of the boiler. But she jumped in with both feet because she knew her ambition, paired with ACHE resources, would show her the way.

“Michele is a committed, caring and visionary leader who lives out the values and benefits of her ACHE involvement on a daily basis,” says David Pearson, FACHE, regional executive, American Hospital Association. Pearson notes that Sutton’s colleagues have come to look to her for her deep knowledge and thoughtful insights.

Sutton gives credit to ACHE, saying there’s not one person who hasn’t gone above and beyond to connect her with the right people. “Partnering with ACHE, which had all the subject-matter experts so I could just pick up the phone and call a friend, was the best blessing,” says Sutton.

“Now my hospital is recognized as one of the top financially best-performing healthcare systems in the United States,” she says. “I couldn’t have done that and turned this place around culturally and financially had it not been for all the ACHE education that I received.”

A Catalyst for the Future

Sutton believes that going forward, ACHE can capitalize on its educational offerings to increase value to its members. She sees ACHE as a one-stop shop for all leadership education, core competency education and digital learning modules. “With constricting budgets, many of us are searching for comprehensive solutions,” says Sutton.

She would also like to provide more turnkey services for local chapters and investigate offering sub specializations for members to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.

Sutton acknowledges that the past several years have been extraordinarily challenging for healthcare professionals, as many have left the industry. Yet, she also sees opportunity. Other sector leaders view healthcare as a stable career choice and want to enter the field. She sees herself as a perfect example of what ACHE can offer new members coming from outside healthcare.
“A lot of people are entering our industry because it’s stable. I can show how you can transcend and be successful,” says Sutton. 

Sutton wants to share how ACHE has impacted her healthcare leadership efforts and the lives of so many others. One way is through self-reflection and intentionality.

North Oaks had set a goal of hiring individuals who reflected the communities they served, but those weren’t the applicants they were seeing. Sutton did some self-reflection and asked herself the tough question: “Are you being intentional in changing the face of your organization?” She and her staff came up with a plan.

Sutton met with the local community college about developing a demonstration project whereby 26 of North Oaks’ best medical assistants, from disadvantaged backgrounds, would participate in a yearlong, accelerated licensed practical nurse program. Instead of working as medical assistants, they instead would attend school full time, receiving free tuition and maintaining their current salary and benefits. At the end of 2023, upon graduation, the medical assistants would give North Oaks a five-year work commitment as LPNs in the North Oaks hospitals.

“In just 12 months, North Oaks gained 26 new nurses,” says Sutton. “They had a 100% graduation rate and 100% state board passage. We had a lot of single mom students who could never have afforded to go to school because they had to provide for their child. It was the proudest day of my life when I went to their graduation, to know we changed that many lives. They tripled their annual wage.” 

The plan worked so well that the second cohort began earlier this year. “I don’t know whether I would have been looking for opportunities and truly, intentionally focused if it hadn’t been for the ideas that I got by being a part of ACHE.” 

“I can think of no better way to repay the tremendous benefits I have received through my membership and engagement with ACHE,” says Sutton, “than to take this next step as Chair and leverage my talents to ensure others’ successes.”

Jennifer K. Ahearn is publications editor with Healthcare Executive.