The Alliance Transformational Leader Award is a lifetime career achievement award dedicated to the individual that is generating bold impact. This award honors a leader in the community of practice who has generated the greatest results through their volunteer efforts at The Alliance. This leader has demonstrated consistent commitment, resulting in effective collaboration, cascading of innovations and sharing of best practices for the benefit of restoring lives through transplantation.
Hobson-Pape presented the inaugural recipient of The Alliance Transformational Leader Award to Howard Nathan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gift of Life Donor Program in Philadelphia. At the Summit, Hobson-Pape shared, “A founder and influential source of guidance to The Alliance, Howard has served on our board since 2006 – distinguishing him as our longest-serving board member. He also holds the distinction of being the longest-serving CEO of any OPO in the US and has mentored many other leaders in donation. As Howard has recently announced his retirement from his remarkable 43-year career, we could imagine no one more fitting to receive our first lifetime achievement award.”
To celebrate Howard, Rick Hasz, Vice President of Clinical Services and incoming President and CEO of Gift of Life Donor Program, shared a personal message. “There is no one more deserving of The Alliance’s Transformational Leadership Award than Howard… Howard has built the Gift of Life Donor Program brick by brick over a long period of time, surrounding himself with not only best-demonstrated practices but collecting relationships and people… but the thing that we are most proud of is the relationships that Howard has built along the way. He is an expert at not only organ and tissue donation, but an expert at making you laugh, making you feel included and making your voice be heard. For Howard, it has always been about the people. The people that are awaiting transplant. The people that he worked with day to day. And the people that make donation possible. Howard has built these relationships through his authenticity, his kindness and his genuine concern for your success. His commitment to donor families, the real heroes in this story, is unwavering… I was reminded by a quote, ‘Good leaders take you where you want to go; great leaders take you where you ought to be.’ Howard, thank you for taking us where we ought to be.”