Powers has worked at the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital for 25 years, serving as chief financial officer for nearly 10 years before becoming CEO in 1995. He grew up in Green Bay, Wis., and studied English literature as an undergraduate at Lawrence University. He followed a circuitous track after college, almost moving to Niger, Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer but instead went to Dublin, Ireland to study literature on a scholarship. His first taste of Alaska came in his mid-twenties, when he moved to Anchorage as a Americorps Vista volunteer.
Niger RPCV Mike Powers earns citizen of year award in Fairbanks Alaska
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital CEO earns citizen of year award
by Molly Rettig / News-Miner Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Dec 13, 2010
FAIRBANKS - Before Mike Powers was chief executive officer for the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, he was an English literature major, a teacher, a volunteer and a Boy Scout.
Now he's being recognized by the Boy Scouts as the Distinguished Citizen of the Year for his business accomplishments and service to the community.
"He's got three sides to him: the CEO, the engaged individual in the arts community, and the family person. That's what makes Mike unique," said Shelby Nelson, who works for Powers in hospital administration.
Powers has worked at the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital for 25 years, serving as chief financial officer for nearly 10 years before becoming CEO in 1995. He grew up in Green Bay, Wis., and studied English literature as an undergraduate at Lawrence University. He followed a circuitous track after college, almost moving to Niger, Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer but instead went to Dublin, Ireland to study literature on a scholarship. His first taste of Alaska came in his mid-twenties, when he moved to Anchorage as a Americorps Vista volunteer.
He almost became a teacher, like the rest of his family, he said.
"Then I realized I wanted a balance between being involved in a socially relevant sector of the economy, like health care, and the responsibility of business decisions."
So he returned to Madison for his MBA when he was 26 years old.
"I had never been in a hospital. I didn't know the difference between an ER and an OR," Powers said.
The ability to make a difference and the challenging and exciting business environment attracted him to health administration.
"This is one of the most complex, dynamic and inclusive community efforts in existence. You have so many different stakeholder groups - medical staff, community, board members, employees and patients - at the center of everything," he said.
Allure of Fairbanks
To a guy from the Midwest, who once sat behind Vince Lombardi at church, Fairbanks embodied a different lifestyle, he said.
The community, the recreation and the health care system all drew Powers in.
"I can leave my house on Farmers Loop and take the kids to hockey practice, go skiing at UAF and then go to a Top of the World game, then go to two different concerts that night. No parking problems, no traffic. It's accessible; it's friendly; it's unpretentious; it's everything," he said.
He sees the hospital as an anchor in the community for many reasons.
"It's dependable, highly visible, it's a 24/7 never-stop operation," he said. "You're attempting to provide services that are needed, without being redundant, to bring in new services such as cardiology or radiation therapy, or partner where it makes sense."
Hospital administration is all about teamwork, he said.
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital dates to 1967, when the flood wiped out the old hospital and the public voted against two bond issues to rebuild it.
"It's risen out of the receding floodwaters of the Chena in 1967. Local people said, ‘We need a hospital,'" he said.
The medical community, the Fairbanks City Council, residents as well as visionaries like former University of Alaska president William Wood and a founder of the Hospital Foundation, Harry Porter, bound together to raise funds to rebuild the hospital, Powers said.
And Powers has built on that effort.
He championed efforts to bring a $36 million diagnostic imaging center to Fairbanks in 2005, helped build a local nursing program and expanded the hospital's services such as cardiology, radiation therapy and a long-term care center.
"He's helped build the health care system in the state to pretty amazing status," said Nelson.
"He's also a huge lover of the community and the arts."
Powers serves on committees for the Interior Neighborhood Health Center and the Alaska Hospital Association and on the boards of KUAC public radio and the Fairbanks Concert Association, among others.
"We get world-class performers and artists and musicians," he said, citing a recent jazz group and an Irish fiddler last Christmas.
"In my mind, the arts community adds a dimension of life, especially in the winter months, that makes Fairbanks a great place to live."
Powers also loves skiing, hiking, literature and traveling with his family. Powers and his wife, Teri Spires, have three children, Kate, 23 and twins Anna and Dan, 22.
He recalled an experience of cultural immersion when his family visited a small fishing village in Scotland about 10 years ago.
"We arranged to have the kids in school during the day. Kate was in sixth grade and they were giving a sex-ed test. My son Danny hooked up with the bad boys of the town and ran all over town all night. My other daughter made great friends. It was a wonderful event," he said.
Distinguished Citizen
The Boy Scouts will recognize Powers at a fundraiser at the Westmark Fairbanks Hotel and Conference Center Tuesday. The event, in its 28th year, has featured recipients such as Richard Wien, Mary Binkley and Joseph Usibelli. Winners are selected by former recipients, not the boy scouts.
"The criteria is someone who is active in community service as well as a business person. They don't have to be involved in scouting," said Linda Dunning, accounting specialist for the Midnight Sun Council Boy Scouts of America.
Powers, who was an Eagle Scout as a youth and a Boy Scout advisory board member as an adult, believes in the organization because it breaks down barriers between youths.
"There's a complete elimination of hurdles between the classes. You can be a freshman and be friends with a senior," he said.
Tickets for the banquet are available by calling the Boy Scout office at 452-1976. The cost is $100 per person.
