Clifton J. “Clif” Porter II, the current senior vice president of government relations for the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living, will become the groups’ next president and CEO, it formally was announced this morning.
He will succeed Mark Parkinson, who in February announced his intention to retire on Jan. 15, 2025. AHCA/NCAL said that Porter’s new appointment will be effective this fall and will start in early 2025. When he assumes the role, he will be the first African American to fill the position at AHCA/NCAL, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.
“As a lifelong advocate for our nation’s seniors, I am honored to take the helm of AHCA/NCAL at this pivotal moment in its history. Our recovery from the pandemic must continue if we are to deliver for our nation’s growing elderly population,” Porter said in a statement. “We must also remain steadfast in our quality improvement efforts while encouraging meaningful investments in our profession, so that we may strengthen our workforce and modernize our approaches. I look forward to working with our members, fellow stakeholders and our nation’s policymakers to further our mission of improving lives by delivering solutions for quality care.”
AHCA/NCAL represent more than 14,000 assisted living communities, nursing homes and facilities for those living with ​intellectual and developmental disabilities that collectively provide care and services to approximately five million people every year. LaShuan Bethea, a 2023 McKnight’s Women of Distinction Hall of Honor inductee, remains executive director of NCAL, a position she has held since September 2021.
Porter will lead the next chapter of AHCA/NCAL as senior living communities and nursing homes start to serve the country’s rapidly growing older adult population. He will oversee the organizations’ key strategic objectives related to the workforce and the regulatory environment. He also will manage the associations’ trade shows and events and member education, as well as other undertakings.
AHCA/NCAL said that when Parkinson announced his impending retirement, AHCA Board of Governors Chair Phil Scalo appointed a selection committee, which sought input from members and interviewed “scores” of candidates, and then Porter was selected. Executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles conducted the search.
“Clif brings a unique blend of front-line experience and lobbying acumen that makes him an ideal candidate to head AHCA/NCAL,” Scalo said in a statement. “We are delighted to see him take this next step, and we are confident AHCA/NCAL as well as the profession’s future will be bright under his leadership.”
Porter’s selection was announced privately to association members Monday afternoon via an email from Parkinson, although the association embargoed formal release of the news until early this morning.
“I fully believe that Clif is the right person to lead long-term care into the future,” Parkinson wrote in the email, calling Porter “a true leader” and describing him as “smart, strategic” and someone who “takes the time to listen.”
“He understands the issues that you face and can bring together the right people and strategies to win those issues,” Parkinson said. “Yes, he is one of the most influential lobbyists in D.C. On top of that he is one of us. I am confident he will lead the profession to future success and give you the ability to deliver high quality care.”
Porter was named to his current AHCA/NCAL position in fall 2013 and began working for the groups in January 2014. He leads the legislative agenda and advocacy efforts, and the organizations credit him with “securing billions in life-saving resources for the sector during the pandemic.”
A native of Washington, DC, Porter has worked in the long-term care field for 35 years, beginning as a nursing home volunteer and then in earnest in 1989 as an administrator-in-training at a skilled nursing facility. He went on to serve as an administrator of several SNFs in the 1990s. At HCR ManorCare (now ProMedica Senior Care), where he worked immediately prior to joining AHCA/NCAL, he rose to the position of regional vice president and then vice president of government relations, a role in which he served from 2004 to 2013.
Porter also was active on various boards from 2004 to 2013, among them the Health Facilities Association of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Since December 2020, he has been a director on the Sabra Health Care REIT Board, where he serves on the audit and corporate responsibility and governance committees. He also serves as secretary of the board of the Washington Heads of Office Leadership Council and since 2018 has been on the board of Health Quality Innovators, where he is vice chair.
Earlier this year, Porter received a McKnight’s Pinnacle Award in the Industry Ally category, recognized for “revitalizing the association’s grassroots and advocacy efforts to ensure that federal regulators hear directly from sector employees through comments on proposed federal rules.” The award is presented by McKnight’s Senior Living and its sister media brands, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, which covers the nursing home industry, and McKnight’s Home Care. Parkinson received the Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the 2024 Pinnacle Awards and in his acceptance speech thanked Porter as one of the leaders of his “incredible team.”
Porter also was named a McKnight’s 40-for-40 honoree, one of 40 “notable newsmakers” recognized in 2020, the 40th anniversary of the beginning of McKnight’s.
Among his other awards, Porter was named to The Hill’s 2024 list of Top 100 Lobbyists.
Porter holds a Bachelor of Science degree in healthcare management from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. He and his wife, Deborah, established the Porter Legacy Scholarship to support diversity, equity and inclusion efforts for students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in health services at VCU’s College of Health Professions.
Additionally, he attended Florida State University, working toward an MBA focusing on real estate.
