ACHI ANNOUNCES PROMOTIONS OF SANDRA MCGREW, JENNIFER WESSEL, JOSHUA COOK

LITTLE ROCK ― The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) announced Tuesday the promotions of Sandra McGrew to executive director, Jennifer Wessel to director of health policy, and Joshua Cook to director of external relations.

As executive director, McGrew will lead organizational operations for the independent health policy center, including strategic planning, executive engagement, contracting and project management. She joined ACHI in 2019 as director of external relations and has served as interim executive director since May following the retirement of Danielle Taylor.

Before joining ACHI, McGrew held various leadership and strategic communications positions, including director of content marketing at the public relations firm Ghidotti, spokesperson for the Arkansas secretary of state and editor-in-chief of Little Rock Soiree magazine. McGrew began her career as a journalist and reported for KLRT FOX16 until 2010. She has a bachelor’s degree from Harding University and an Accreditation in Public Relations from the Public Relations Society of America, where she currently serves on the Arkansas chapter’s board of directors as accreditation chair.

Wessel was a senior policy analyst at ACHI before becoming interim director of health policy last January. She focuses on health policy initiatives related to the advancement of community health and wellness and the collection of health data reported under the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative. Her work also supports healthcare workforce analyses to inform efforts to improve access to care statewide. Wessel will continue to serve as ACHI’s data privacy officer.

Wessel previously served as a member of former Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s Food Desert Working Group and one of the leaders of the Arkansas Department of Health’s Healthy Active Arkansas program, where she helped guide strategies to increase the percentage of Arkansans maintaining a healthy weight. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas, a law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Cook was ACHI’s assistant director of external relations before becoming interim director of external relations in May. He oversees communications and engagement efforts, including media outreach, publications, videos, podcasts, social media content and external events. Cook previously was a producer, writer, and editor for CBS Network Radio News in New York; led global media relations efforts for Austin, Texas-based geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor; led media relations and electronic communications efforts for the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin; and was director of public relations for Ghidotti. He has a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown College in Georgetown, Ky.

“Sandra, Jennifer and Joshua have all been essential members of ACHI’s team, and I’m honored to announce their promotions to these key positions,” said ACHI President and CEO Craig Wilson. “With our leadership team in place, ACHI is well positioned to build upon our analytic capacity and data assets, not only to provide actionable and timely insights and inform decision makers, but also to support collaborative research efforts, quality improvement initiatives, and evaluations of system performance at this crucial juncture for health care in Arkansas.”

ACHI is a nonpartisan, independent health policy center that serves as a catalyst for improving the health of all Arkansans through evidence-based research, public issue advocacy and collaborative program development.