It’s time to pass the torch. After nearly 30 years as CEO of Christian Health Associates, I am making public my plans to step aside. I have been the CEO since its inception, and I am resigning that role only to pass it on in a time of strength. My plan is to be replaced by 2024. I will stay on until the right person is in place.

The vision of Christian Health Associates was formed in weekly meetings through the year of 1993. We became incorporated as a non-profit on August 22, 1994 (my birthday coincidentally) and opened our doors in February of 1995 at 742 K Street in Anchorage.

CHA began with four founders: Dr. Byron Perkins, Sarah Mills, Brenda Moore and myself. All of us are still working together nearly 30 years later.

I love CHA and the staff (team) that I have had the privilege to co-labor with these many years.

We have had the honor to touch many lives through our various services to Anchorage, the state of Alaska, and a number of places around the world.

With joy and sadness, Dr. Brian Green, long-time CEO of Christian Health Associates (CHA), will leave that position next year.  We are happy for Brian, but his leaving will be sad for us.

Brian was one of four founders with a deeply rooted Christian faith that established CHA in 1994, including Sarah Mills, Byron Perkins and Brenda Moore.  Before launching CHA, Brian was a pastor and counselor at Abbott Loop Community Church.  His counselor role motivated him to move counseling beyond the local church as he pursued his doctorate in Christian Counseling and professional licensing.  

Brian brought inter-denominational counselors together for weekly meetings.  With Dr. Perkin’s arrival, a medical component evolved to care for the whole person – body, soul and spirit.  These meetings culminated in the opening of Cornerstone Medical and Counseling Clinic at 742 K Street in 1995. Within two years the practice had outgrown the K Street facility and relocated to 1825 Academy Drive.  To this day, the four founders continue to work for CHA.

Three mission strategies grew and sustained CHA under Brian’s leadership:  Connecting, collaborating and partnering.  Pioneering new ventures is part of Brian’s DNA, and he boldly entered into uncharted territory to expand the CHA vision to include fiscal sponsorship.  This move resulted in CHA’s oversight of Alaska Medical Missions, Anchorage Project Access, Anchorage School-based Health Centers and Healthy Smiles Forever.  Cornerstone Clinic has grown into Cornerstone Health, and CHA Staff now numbers over 50 from the starting 5 employees. 

Some hallmarks of Brian’s leadership are:

  • Appointment to the state task force for faith-based and community initiatives.

  • A CHA presence outside the Anchorage area to provide medical and food supplies to Russia

  • Involvement with Southcentral Foundation for ten years with the Family Wellness Warriors Initiative

  • A five-days a week radio program for six years

  • Alaska Medical Missions (AMM) partnering with Rasmuson Foundation to provide PPE supplies throughout the state during the pandemic

  • The counseling department expanding to 24 counselors including an internship program

  • The medical department expansion from specializing in family osteopathic medicine to include general family medicine

  • The addition of Cornerstone Recovery, a program for individuals struggling with drugs and alcohol

  • Involvement on the Rasmuson Foundation Sabbatical committee, and he continues to serve as an ambassador for the Rasmuson Foundation

  • A capital campaign and upcoming move to a new building, a process that will be complete before he retires

Brian is well known in faith-based and community leadership circles for his willingness to listen and to characterize CHA’s motto to provide ‘help along the way’. His distinction as a leader is his ability to engage hearts and minds to work together for a common goal.

CHA is currently looking for a new chief executive officer who can oversee management of the multi-faceted organization of CHA from a ministry as well as a nonprofit management perspective. Brian promises to visit frequently and may be used in a consultant capacity. 

CHA is looking forward to what God has in store down the road.  We thank Brian for his vision and direction of Christian Health Associates over the years and while he cannot be replaced, the entire CHA team and its affiliates hope to see his vision continue to grow in the future.