Why Join?

The Evans Houghton Committee is responsible for reviewing all nominations to the Evans F. Houghton Award and contacting new inductees. The Evans Houghton Award recognizes significant contributions to the field of healthcare public relations, marketing, and communications. There are four general categories for which nominees can be considered for the Evans Houghton Award: activism within NESHCo, contributions to the healthcare communications field, mentorship of others within the healthcare communications field, and challenging oneself and others to improve the field and excel professionally. This Committee examines each nominee on the basis of these categories and works closely with the Board of Directors in its decisions. A recipient is only selected when the criteria has been met. Only past recipients of the Evans F. Houghton Award may serve on this committee.

The Evolving Leaders Committee is charged with overseeing all aspects of the Evolving Leaders Program. This includes increasing participation by promoting the program to the target audience and enhancing the program by securing new and innovative educational seminars to be implemented each year. The Evolving Leaders Committee must organize six sessions to be delivered at pre-determined dates throughout the year. The program kicks-off each year with a social hour for the incoming cohort and alumni, hosted at the Annual Conference in May. The committee will work closely with the Marketing Committee in promoting the program to evolving leader candidates with the NESHCo community. Lastly, it is the responsibility of the Committee to review all applications to the Evolving Leaders program. 

The Lamplighter Committee is responsible for the planning of the Annual NESHCo Lamplighter Awards, held each May as part of the Spring Conference. The Lamplighter Awards recognize the hard work produced throughout New England in the timeframe ending in January of the award year and covering the 15 months prior. The Call for Entries each year begins the Monday of the first full week of December and closes one week after the first Sunday in February. The Lamplighter Awards also pays tribute to the Best in New England winner, the Owen J. McNamara Excellence in Writing winner, and the Evans F. Houghton recipient. The Lamplighter Committee plans and organizes the entire evening in close coordination with the Conference Committee and NESHCo staff. 

The Marketing Committee oversees all aspects related to internal and external communications for NESHCo. The goal of the committee is to provide thought leadership on design and web access to enhance the member experience. The committee advises staff on social media and email campaigns and website content, while establishing policies for consistent messaging and style for application across all NESHCo communications, whether online or in print and develop. The work of this committee involves regular collaboration with the other NESHCo Committees. 

The primary responsibility of the Membership Committee is to increase and enhance the membership of NESHCo by attracting new members. The Membership Committee is tasked with recruiting new members for the organization, assisting prospective members with joining, assisting lapsed members to renew their membership, creating and implementing strategies to grow membership in specific target practice areas, and maintaining a level of NESHCo membership necessary to ensure the fiscal stability of the organization.

The Sponsorship Committee is responsible for managing the acquisition of sponsors for the Annual Spring Conference. The Committee ensures that sponsors receive as much value from their sponsorship dollars as possible. The Sponsorship Committee also assists the Membership Committee in matters relating to NESHCo's vendor members as these members are offered incentives to also support NESHCo as Conference Sponsors.

The Conference Committee is responsible for the planning of the Annual Spring Conference, NESHCo's premier annual event, held each May. A much-anticipated networking event kicks-off the Conference, followed by three days that offer exhibition for vendors, educational sessions, networking, and more. The Annual Conference ends with the Lamplighter Awards Gala. Also hosted at the Annual Conference is the commencement of the Evolving Leaders Program. The Conference Committee plans and organizes the entire event in close coordination with the NESHCo staff and other NESHCo Committees. 

The Webinar Committee is responsible for procuring one educational session each month. The Webinar Committee can produce more than 12 webinars annually by including hot-topic webinars that are added as bonus material on an ad hoc basis. Each January is dedicated to a Lamplighter Webinar, providing an overview of the Lamplighter Awards, submission process, and insights from the previous year's BNE winner. To be able to engage high-caliber speakers for the Webinars, the Committee should schedule events sufficiently far in advance.  

*COVID-19 may change the scope of the committees as programs are postponed or transitioned to virtual options.