Where Healthcare Equity Meets the Horizon: An Evening of Change Makers on Tampa Bay

By Grant McGaugh

The sun was setting over Tampa Bay, painting the water in strokes of amber and rose, as some of Florida's most influential healthcare leaders stepped aboard a yacht that would become, for one evening, both a forum and a symbol. Here, on the gentle waters that have witnessed centuries of Florida's evolution, another transformation was taking shape — one that could reshape the future of healthcare equity in the Southeast.

"Sometimes the most powerful conversations happen when we step outside our usual environments," says Tabatha Ball, COO of MCR Health, Inc., as she gestures toward the rippling waters beyond the yacht's rail. Ball, whose career has been defined by breaking barriers, would soon join a panel that exemplifies why the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE) Florida Chapter has become a catalyst for change in the industry.

This was the organization's 5th Annual Executive Leadership Forum, but to call it merely a forum would be to miss its essence. As the yacht slipped away from the dock, carrying more than 100 of healthcare's thought leaders and change-makers, the evening's true character emerged: part symposium, part strategy session, and part revolution in evening wear.

Joy Powell, Chief Health Equity Officer at Baptist Health Care, commands attention when she speaks about the stark realities facing minority communities in healthcare. "We're not here just to talk about change," she tells the assembled leaders, her voice carrying over the soft purr of engines and lapping waves. "We're here to architect it."

The evening's theme, "Equitable Healthcare: Policy, Practice, and Progress," is more than a catchy alliteration. C Suite executives trade strategies with emerging leaders in intimate groups scattered across the deck. A hospital administrator from Miami shares data with a policy expert from Jacksonville. The conversations flow as smoothly as the evening breeze, but their content deepens healthcare's most pressing challenges.

Between courses of an elegantly plated dinner, I witness a moment that captures the evening's essence: a young healthcare administrator, barely five years into her career, engages in an intense discussion with a veteran CEO about community health initiatives. This is NAHSE Florida's vision: hierarchies dissolving, mentorship happening organically, and solutions emerging from unexpected connections.

The chapter's track record gives weight to these conversations. In the past year alone, their members have launched initiatives reaching underserved residents, created scholarship programs for minority healthcare administration students, and implemented diversity initiatives reshaping C-suites across the state.

As night falls and the Tampa skyline begins to sparkle, the discussions show no sign of waning. A chief medical officer sketches a community outreach program on a cocktail napkin. Two hospital administrators exchanged contacts and are already planning their next collaboration. This is how change happens — not just in boardrooms and conference halls, but in moments of genuine connection and shared purpose.

"What we're doing here isn't just networking," says Powell during the panel's closing remarks. "We're building the future of healthcare, one relationship at a time." Looking around the yacht's elegant cabin, now humming with energy and ideas, it's hard to disagree.

The vessel returns to port under a canopy of stars, but the evening's real journey — toward a more equitable healthcare system — is just beginning. For the leaders aboard, this night on Tampa Bay was more than a glamorous gathering; it reminded them of their collective power to reshape an industry.

As the attendees disembark, their conversations still animated and purposeful, one thing becomes clear: NAHSE Florida has mastered the art of turning elegant evenings into engines of change. In healthcare leadership, that might be exactly what progress looks like.

Grant McGaugh is the former President of the NAHSE Florida Chapter and the pioneer of the executive leadership forum and award-winning program for healthcare executives.

Sidebar: NAHSE Florida by the Numbers

• 200+ active members across Florida
• 14,000+ healthcare leadership executives reached through member initiatives
• 5 annual leadership forums completed
• 12 programs planned for 2025
• 25+ mentorship partnerships established
• $10,000+ in scholarship funds awarded

For more information about NAHSE Florida or upcoming events, visit https://nahseflorida.org/