John Kiernan Spotlight

John Kiernan, Managing Director at Management Pathways, is a 20-year member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Management Pathways is a boutique retained executive search firm that partners with organizations across the healthcare continuum to provide talent expertise for C-suite to mid-level leadership roles.

John began his career in business-to-business sales which developed his entrepreneurial spirit, and he soon recognized his passion for healthcare through his work with a strategic planning and retained search firm serving academic and acute care provider organizations. In 2003, he founded Management Pathways and maintains a hands-on, personal approach to ensure a quality experience for candidates and a positive hiring outcome for clients. John thoroughly enjoys working with healthcare professionals at all career stages. A common theme of making a positive impact to improve health outcomes continues to draw him further into this field where he has spent over 25 years.

John has served the Healthcare Leadership Network of the Delaware Valley as a volunteer, board member, and co-chair on four different committees: Career Development, Communications, Events and Education and Member Services. A highlight for him was the development of the Diseases without Borders event, the first chapter organized Global Health program at ACHE. John studied in Kenya and through that interest, found the opportunity to spotlight the work of a local physician working on the front lines in Liberia alongside Penn Medicine’s preparation and nimble response to the Ebola outbreak.

Through the ACHE Chapter Innovation Grant, he led the development of the Partner Healthcare Organization program, designed to engage HLNDV with major healthcare employers and bring the chapter to non-members. By identifying active ACHE members to serve as liaisons to engage their organization’s senior leadership, the program has grown chapter membership and volunteer participation. With leadership support, chapter events at your organization can help support increased membership along with education opportunities for the team, providers or leaders who may not have ever connected with ACHE.

What you won’t find on John’s LinkedIn bio is that 90% of his career has been through self-employment in his own search firm. The benefits of being present for his family and finding work-life balance has been an incredible part of his journey with no regrets.

When asked, John stated he is most proud of playing a role in uniting talented professionals with great organizations and seeing them both grow and make a positive impact. “There is so much talent in our chapter, in our market including the quality of the organizations.”