IARF CEO Josh Evans Elected to ANCOR Board of Directors

ANCOR is thrilled to announce that last week, the State Association Executives (SAE) Forum elected Josh Evans, President & CEO of IARF, to serve as its Chair and Liaison to the ANCOR Board of Directors. In this role, Josh will be pivotal in shaping the SAE Forum’s strategic direction, and in ensuring SAEs’ voices are heard within the association’s highest governing body.

The SAE Forum Chair also serves as a Co-Chair of ANCOR’s Government Relations (GR) Committee. In that capacity, Josh joins Daryn Demeritt of BrightSpring Health Services and Julie Manworren of Living Well Disability Services, the other two GR Co-Chairs.

Josh has served as President & CEO of Springfield-based IARF, Illinois’ community provider association, since 2018. Prior to taking the helm at IARF, Josh spent nearly 15 years working to advance the association’s government relations and advocacy efforts, including, most recently, in the role of Vice President for Government Relations & Operations.

“Josh has been an invaluable leader in ANCOR’s government relations work for years, and quickly became a trusted voice among State Association Executives in the short time since he was appointed to IARF’s top leadership spot last year,” said Barbara Merrill, CEO of ANCOR. “His election to Chair of the SAE Forum and his resulting appointment to ANCOR’s Board of Directors simply formalizes a leadership role Josh has already played for several years in service to our growing community of providers.”

The vacancy on ANCOR’s Board of Directors role was created when Donna Martin, previous Chair of the SAE Forum, resigned last month. Donna joined the ANCOR staff on February 1 in the capacity of Director of State Partnerships & Special Projects, a role that positions her to continue leveraging her expertise and her deep experience as a State Association Executive in Rhode Island to serve the 56 SAEs that comprise ANCOR’s SAE Forum.

ANCOR members who haven’t had the opportunity to get to know Josh should make plans to introduce themselves to him at ANCOR’s 2019 Annual Conference, Bridges to Better Outcomes, taking place May 6-8 in Portland, OR.