For Immediate Release
NORTH PLATTE, Neb., December 17, 2025 — Danelle Franzen, chief operating officer at Great Plains Health, has been elected to a three-year term on the Council of Regents, the legislative body of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
The Council of Regents provides advice and counsel to the Board of Governors and is responsible for electing the board and its chair. Franzen will take office in March 2026 before the Congress on Healthcare Leadership and will represent ACHE's membership in Nebraska.
As chief operating officer, Franzen is responsible for the overall operations of Great Plains Health and ensures that the organization's strategic objectives are carried out through its daily activities. Before assuming this position in 2022, she served as chief provider network officer. She began her health care career as a medical laboratory technician at Great Plains Health and has held several positions of increasing responsibility in laboratory and management.
Franzen currently serves as president of the American College of Healthcare
Executives of Nebraska chapter. She was recently honored with two awards from the chapter: the Chapter Service Award and the Senior Level Healthcare Executive Award.
"I am honored to represent Nebraska's health care leaders at the national level," Franzen said. "This role allows me to give back to a profession that has given me so much, and I look forward to advocating for the continued growth and development of health care executives across our state."
Franzen holds a Master of Business Administration from Bellevue University, a Bachelor of Science in clinical laboratory science from Weber State University and an associate degree from Mid-Plains Community College. She is board-certified in health care management and is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
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About Great Plains Health
Based in North Platte, Nebraska, Great Plains Health is a fully accredited, 116-bed acute-care regional medical center serving western and central Nebraska, northern Kansas and southern South Dakota. With 90 physicians representing nearly 30 medical specialties, the Great Plains Health system offers advanced health care, including heart and vascular, cancer, and orthopedic surgery services. Great Plains Health is a Level III trauma center, and all of its emergency department physicians are residency-trained and board-certified in emergency medicine. The system employs approximately 1,300 employees and serves a geographic area spanning more than 67,000 square miles.
The hospital is accredited by the Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality (CIHQ) and is home to an American College of Surgeons-accredited cancer center and Level II bariatric surgery program. For more information, visit gphealth.org. About the American College of Healthcare Executives
The American College of Healthcare Executives is an international professional society of more than 51,000 healthcare executives who lead hospitals, healthcare systems and other healthcare organizations. ACHE’s mission is to advance our members and healthcare management excellence. ACHE offers its prestigious FACHE® credential, signifying board certification in healthcare management. ACHE's established network of 76 chapters provides access to networking, education and career development at the local level. In addition, ACHE is known for its magazine, Healthcare Executive, and its career development and public policy programs. Through such efforts, ACHE works toward its vision of being the preeminent professional society for leaders dedicated to improving health. The Foundation of the American College of Healthcare Executives was established to further advance healthcare management excellence through education and research. The Foundation of ACHE is known for its educational programs—including the annual Congress on Healthcare Leadership, which draws more than 7,000 participants—and groundbreaking research. Its publishing division, ACHE Learn, is one of the largest publishers of books and journals on health services management, including textbooks for college and university courses.