Stephen W. Kett, Chief Executive Officer

Graduate of the University of Vermont and Harvard University, the majority of Steve’s career has been spent in the healthcare industry. His passion for the industry and his deep, abiding respect for those who work in it has been the driving force behind his professional life.

After graduate school, Steve decided to make a change from a planned academic career. Steve left Harvard and joined the Boston office of the strategy consulting firm, Bain & Company. After several years in Boston,Steve moved to Washington, D.C., where he joined The Advisory Board Company, a best practices research and publishing company, as head of new product development. Steve spent almost 18 years at The Advisory Board designing, launching, and leading several highly successful executive education and leadership development programs for nurses, physicians, and high-potential administrators from hospitals and health systems across the United States.

In 2009, Steve launched his own healthcare executive education and consulting practice, where he worked with healthcare delivery organizations and a variety of organizations that support them, including The Governance Institute. For over a decade, Steve has worked with The Governance Institute in a number of ways, from rounding with senior leadership of its member organizations, to teaching case studies at its annual leadership conferences. In the summer of 2023, Steve was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of The Governance Institute.

Charles M. Ewell, Ph.D., Founder

Charles M. Ewell, Ph.D. founded The Governance Institute in 1986 to provide information services to boards of directors and physicians of healthcare organizations. The Governance Institute began with board retreats and in its early years evolved to provide a series of conferences where boards could come together and learn from each other and expert presenters. Under his guidance and leadership, The Governance Institute has grown into what it is today. In addition to The Governance Institute, he was chairman of Global Governance, Inc., his own privately held strategy and investment business.

Dr. Ewell was born and educated in Virginia and has spent most of his career as a teacher, author, and consultant. He published over 60 articles and several books on management and governance strategy and lectured at the University of Wisconsin, Yale University, Ohio State University, and UCLA. He also served on many hospital, civic, and corporate boards, including the Hoover Institution, the “think tank” on the campus of Stanford University.

He worked in hospital management for five years and consulted with the Booz, Allen & Hamilton partnership in Chicago for another five years. For the next 10 years he was with Arthur Young & Company (now Ernst & Young) as a partner and the national director of that company's healthcare work. He also directed the merger that created American Healthcare Systems (now Premier, Inc.), a national alliance of 1,500 hospitals, and served as president during its start-up.

Dr. Ewell passed away on April 16, 2014, at his home in La Jolla, California, after a long battle with cancer.