LiveOnNY Announces Appointment of Leonard Achan as President & CEO

NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, LiveOnNY Board of Directors announced that Leonard Achan RN, MA, ANP has been named the organization's next President and CEO. Achan will succeed longtime leader Helen Irving, who is retiring.

Achan, a veteran healthcare executive with over 20 years of leadership experience, who currently serves as the President of the Hospital for Special Surgery's Innovation Institute, will assume the role of President and CEO of LiveOnNY starting November 29, 2021.

"LiveOnNY looked far and wide for a leader to build upon the legacy of our retiring CEO Helen Irving, and we certainly have found that person in Lenny," said Lee H. Perlman, Chairman of the LiveOnNY Board of Directors. "If there is a renaissance man in healthcare, it is Lenny. He has excelled in many verticals within the healthcare ecosystem: as a clinician, as a marketing and communications executive, and as a product innovator. He will bring a sense of infectious energy to the enterprise and continue to improve our OPO performance measures." With over two decades of healthcare leadership experience, Achan has spent his career creating value for the community through creative leadership, change management and transformation efforts.

Achan started his career as an ICU Nurse in 1999 at Mount Sinai Hospital and quickly ascended into leadership roles of increasing responsibility, spanning clinical, operational, marketing, communications, crisis management, digital transformation, branding, and innovation. He has served in several C-suite roles including Chief Communications Officer, Chief Access Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Senior Associate Dean of Global Communications, branding and reputation, Chief Innovation Officer and President of Innovation of Academic Medical Centers in NYC.

His passion for serving community extends to serving on the boards of several nonprofits, including, Adelphi University, HELP USA, Federation of Organizations, Hagedorn Little Village School and the American Hospital Association Center for Health Innovation Leadership and he has been recognized extensively for clinical excellence, executive leadership and community service.

"I am honored to lead this organization and work hand in hand with our hospitals, providers, elected officials and supporters to help New Yorker's and serve the community at large. This is such a critical time in our state and nations history where the awareness of the need for organ donation and transplantation is ready for transformation," said Leonard Achan. "I am grateful to Helen for her incredible leadership and lasting impact at LiveOnNY, and to the Board of Directors for their confidence and trust in me. We have thousands of patients on the waiting list for organs and I feel a responsibility to every one of them. I look forward to serving as an effective force in the local communities we serve."

LiveOnNY has helped to save over 27,000 lives and improve more than half a million lives through organ, and tissue donation since the organization's founding in 1978. Presently, over 107,000 ailing adults and children across the nation are waiting to receive a lifesaving organ – including nearly 10,000 New Yorkers. Achan will take the reins of the organization from Irving, who has been a prominent leader in New York's healthcare space with her unwavering commitment to life-saving donation and transplantation.

Along with appointing Achan as their new President and CEO, LiveOnNY has promoted Chad Ezzell, from Chief Clinical Officer to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Ezzell joined LiveOnNY in 2019, and has been instrumental in designing, developing and leading the organization's clinical operations, which includes the daily operation of organ recovery, family service, donor center and hospital service functions. Previously, he served as the Vice President of Clinical Services for Southwest Transplant Alliance and has 22 years of experience in the field of organ and tissue donation. 

"I am thrilled to be handing over LiveOnNY to such a great transformative leader. Lenny is absolutely the right choice, at the right time," said Helen Irving. "He will bring a dynamic new perspective to the organization that will benefit the communities we serve and save more lives. I know the future of the organization is in great hands."

Irving was appointed President & CEO of LiveOnNY in 2011. The former critical care nurse brought 30 years of clinical and business expertise to the transplant field, including her role as VP of Hospital Operations at Mount Sinai Medical Center. She established the LiveOnNY Foundation, and played a key role in launching New York's first face transplant program with NYU Langone Health. During her tenure, the number of New Yorkers registered as organ donors grew exponentially and more lives than ever were saved.

About LiveOnNY:
LiveOnNY is a nonprofit, federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) dedicated to saving lives, providing comfort, and strengthening legacies through organ, and tissue donation. The OPO, which was established in 1978, serves a culturally and ethnically diverse population of 13 million residents in New York City, Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley. Working closely with transplant centers and hospitals, LiveOnNY coordinates organ, and tissue donation for transplant, educates the public and healthcare professionals about donation and transplantation, and promotes the importance of signing up on the New York State Donate Life Registry. LiveOnNY works closely with 11 transplant centers, and nearly 100 hospitals. LiveOnNY is accredited by the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) and a member of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which oversees the organ transplant waiting list in the U.S. For more information, please visit LiveOnNY.org.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

LiveOnNY Inquiries:

Ali McSherry, [email protected] | 732-241-7958
Jason Lee, [email protected] | 212-691-2800

SOURCE LiveOnNY