John G. Currin Jr., president and chief executive officer of Alamance Regional Medical Center and ARMC Healthcare since 2005, was honored at a June 22 campus luncheon with the Frank S. Holt, Jr. Business Leadership Award, Elon University’s highest honor for business leadership.
More than 100 local business, civic and university leaders attended the program. In his acceptance remarks, Currin acknowledged his family and colleagues for their support over the years. “I am very thankful and deeply humbled, and I feel very fortunate to even have a place in this room today,” he said. “To have my name added to this list of distinguished recipients is something I never imagined.”
Prior to Currin’s appointment he served as vice president for operations from 1986 to 1989 and as executive vice president and chief operating officer from 1989 to 2005.
Currin has called Alamance County home since moving to Graham, N.C., with his family in 1956. A 1967 graduate of Graham High School, he served in administrative roles at the Wake County Hospital System and Granville Medical Center before returning to Alamance County in 1986 to join Alamance Health Services, the organization created by the merger of Alamance County and Alamance Memorial hospitals that later became ARMC.
Besides serving on the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business Board of Advisors, Currin serves on a number of community boards and committees for statewide organizations, including the North Carolina Prevention Partners, Alamance County Area Chamber of Commerce, Alamance County Economic Development Foundation, United Way of Alamance County, Alamance Citizens for Education, and Alamance Community College Foundation. He is a past member of the North Carolina Hospital Association Board of Trustees and continues to serve on its nominating committee.
After graduating from Wake Forest University in 1971 with a biology degree, Currin was commissioned an officer in the United States Army Medical Service Corps, where he served in combat medical support units and military hospitals. Mr. Currin earned his master’s degree in health administration from Duke University in 1978. He is board certified in healthcare management and a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
“The man we’re honoring this year, like many past award recipients, has had a major impact on this institution,” said Elon University President Leo M. Lambert, who shared his own remarks on Currin’s legacy. “We have a first-rate Doctor of Physical Therapy program on this campus in large part because of John’s leadership.”
Lambert lauded Currin’s support for the creation of the Center for Fitness and Human Movement Studies, a joint venture between ARMC and Elon University. More recently, he assisted with the creation of Elon’s new physician assistant studies master’s program, which could not have happened without his support and significant commitments from ARMC, Duke Endowment and other sources.
Elon’s Martha and Spencer Love School of Business established the Holt Award to recognize a local citizen whose contributions to business and the community reflect the same progressive, visionary leadership exemplified by the award’s namesake. The late Frank S. Holt, Jr. was president of Holt Manufacturing Co., and an active civic leader.
“Mr. Holt set the standard very high for business and community leadership and stewardship,” Currin said in his remarks.
A committee of university, civic and business leaders annually selects the recipient of the Frank S. Holt, Jr. Business Leadership Award.
Past recipients of the award have included the following:
Ralph M. Holt, Jr.
D. Earl Pardue, Sr.
Dr. James B. Powell
Ernest A. Koury, Sr.
Maurice J. Koury
J. Harold Smith
James W. Maynard
C. Avery Thomas
The Gant Family
Jack R. Lindley, Sr.
Virgil L. Stadler
Thomas E. Chandler
James A. Barnwell, Jr.
Richard H. Shirley, Jr.
Sam and Vicky Hunt
James C. McGill
James R. Copland, III
Jo Watts Williams
W. Eric Hinshaw
Allen E. Gant, Jr.