Thirty-year veteran receives Award for Individual Professional Excellence
Jarrard Inc. Executive Susan Alcorn Honored by Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development
<0> Jarrard Phillips Cate & HancockMorgan Ribeiro, 615-254-0575 </0>
The Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD) of the American Hospital Association today awarded Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock Senior Vice President Susan M. Alcorn the 2013 Award for Individual Professional Excellence.
Alcorn accepted the award – the society’s highest honor – this morning at SHSMD’s Annual Conference in Chicago.
“It’s a privilege to be numbered among the handful of outstanding strategy professionals who have received this award in the past,” Alcorn said. “I’d like to give my sincerest thanks to SHSMD for this honor, and for allowing me the opportunity to serve our peers across the country.”
A former SHSMD president and board member, Alcorn has nearly 30 years of hospital marketing and communications experience. She joined Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock in July following 15 years at Geisinger Health System, where she served as chief communications officer. She was responsible for all communications, public relations, marketing and advertising initiatives across the system, and for helping to position Geisinger as a nationally recognized model for how healthcare should be delivered and financed in the United States.
“Susan has done remarkable things over the course of her career,” said David Jarrard, president and CEO of Jarrard Inc. “She is an outstanding leader and is absolutely deserving of this honor. We are so proud of what she has achieved.”
Prior to Geisinger, Alcorn served as vice president of public relations and marketing for Solaris Health System in Edison, N.J.; as corporate director of public relations for Union Hospital in Union, N.J.; and as director of public relations for Saint Mary’s Hospital and Saint James Hospital in Orange and Newark, N.J.
Alcorn is a member of the Healthcare Insight magazine editorial advisory board. She is also a co-author on Jarrard Inc. and Geisinger’s book, “Healthcare Mergers, Acquisitions, and Partnerships: An Insider’s Guide to Communication,” which was published through HealthLeaders Media.
Based in Nashville, Tenn., with an office in Chicago, Jarrard Inc. is the premier strategic communications firm for any hospital in the nation experiencing a time of significant change, crisis or opportunity. The firm publishes healthcare newsletter and ranks among the top 15 healthcare PR firms in the U.S. For more information, visit or follow us @JarrardInc.