The New Executive's First Year

Walter Abernathy, NANA's chief executive officer since 2017, ran a regional trade association for a decade before that. He teaches this course with Gordon Ashcombe, chief executive officer of the Society of Rural Hospital Administrators and NANA's board chair for 2024 and 2025, who took his own CEO seat after a career on the association side of a very different sector. Between them, they've made most of the mistakes a new executive can make in a first year, and they teach the course around avoiding them.

A sequenced plan across finance, staff, and board relationships that a new executive can follow without re-inventing one from scratch, built from Walter Abernathy's own first months running a regional trade association.

Distinguishing the commitments a predecessor made that a new executive should keep, from those worth quietly revisiting once trust is established, and how to tell the difference before the board asks.

Setting a working rhythm with a board chair, including how often to talk between board meetings and what belongs in a written report versus a phone call, before the first board meeting arrives.

Gordon Ashcombe's list of decisions a new executive is tempted to make immediately, staff changes, vendor contracts, strategic pivots, that hold up fine for a year and are better made with more standing.

Newly hired or newly promoted association executive directors and CEOs in their first year, and boards preparing to onboard one. Pairs with the companion guide co-authored by both instructors.

• Sequence the first 90 days across finance, staff, and board relationships

• Identify which existing commitments a new executive should honor versus revisit

• Set a working rhythm with a board chair before the first board meeting

• Recognize which decisions can wait past the first year and which can't