ACHI names Northwest Arkansas director

The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) has named Stephanie Blevins to the newly created position of director of Northwest Arkansas community engagement. She previously worked for Gov. Asa Hutchinson as the governor’s Northwest Arkansas representative.

“Northwest Arkansas is in a state of rapid transformation, with increasing demands on its health and health care sectors,” ACHI President and CEO Dr. Joe Thompson said in a statement. “ACHI’s commitment to be a catalyst to improve the health of all Arkansans requires a dedicated presence in this region of the state. I am confident that Stephanie, with her years of experience engaging with community and business leaders in the region, will represent us well.”

Blevins grew up in Tampa, Fla., and studied economics at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga. She has lived in Northwest Arkansas since 1995. Blevins became Hutchinson’s Northwest Arkansas district representative in 2018. In that position she worked with business leaders, elected officials, nonprofits and healthcare executives. She and her husband, Hershel Blevins, have four grown children.

“I’m excited to be a part of an organization that has done such amazing work to better the health of Arkansans for almost 25 years. With the explosive growth in the Northwest Arkansas health sector, I feel privileged to be part of the conversation in this part of the state,” Blevins said.

ACHI has supported efforts of the Health Care Transformation Division of the Northwest Arkansas Council. This staffing addition represents a further commitment to support the needs of Northwest Arkansas with nationally recognized data, analytics and policy expertise that ACHI has developed over two decades, according to ACHI.

ACHI is a Little Rock-based nonpartisan, independent health policy center working to improve the health of all Arkansans through evidence-based research, public issue advocacy, and collaborative program development.