1.19.24
Top eldercare executive honored for career achievement
Former Kansas governor turned top eldercare executive Mark Parkinson ’80 has been selected the 2024 McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards Career Achievement Award honoree for his contributions to the long-term care sector, the segment of society most devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. He has served as president and CEO of the 14,000-member American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living since 2011.
“Mark doesn’t just talk the talk,” says John O’Connor, who is McKnight’s editorial director and associate publisher. “He walks the walk. During his years at the helm of AHCA/NCAL, he has helped guide the industry through some of the most challenging times we’ve ever faced.”
Parkinson and his wife Stacy, who met while law students at the University of Kansas, began their involvement with eldercare in 1996, when they founded the first of their 10 assisted living communities in Kansas and Missouri. They sold the buildings in 2006, which happened to be the year Parkinson – a native Wichitan who had served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 1991 to 1992, in the Kansas Senate from 1993 to 1997 and as Kansas Republican Party chairman from 1999 to 2003 – switched political parties to be Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ running mate in her bid for re-election.
Described as penetratingly intelligent and a person able to bring people with divergent views together, Lt. Gov. Parkinson took over the Kansas gubernatorial reigns from Sebelius to complete her term after her appointment as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on April 28, 2009, becoming the state’s 45th governor and serving through Jan. 10, 2011.
As top executive at the largest U.S. long-term care association for 13 years now, Parkinson has distinguished himself as an effective and high-profile industry point person, notably making appearances on national news outlets during the pandemic. When not touring the country to visit AHCA/NCAL members and affiliates, he can often be found lobbying in Washington, D.C., on behalf of senior living and care operators.
Parkinson’s many accolades and awards include being names as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” by Modern Healthcare multiple times and was named a Top CEO in the Washington Post’s 2019 Top Workplace survey in the small-employer category. In 2010, he was recognized with the WSU Alumni Achievement Award. The Parkinsons, who reside in Washington, D.C., are longstanding supporters of Wichita State. In 2019, to cite one of their contributions, they set up a scholarship program to benefit first-generation immigrant students seeking a higher education.
The celebration for his most recent honor, the Pinnacle Awards Career Achievement Award, is slated for March 21 in Chicago.
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