James G. Chastain named president-elect of MHA Board of Governors

   

James G. (Bo) Chastain, director of Mississippi State Hospital (MSH) located in Whitfield, MS, was recently appointed chairman-elect for the 2007-2008 Mississippi Hospital Association Board of Governors on Wednesday, June 27, at the Mississippi Hospital Association’s 76th Annual Leadership Conference in Point Clear, AL.

Chastain has served as director of Mississippi State Hospital (MSH) since 1993.  He joined the hospital in 1990 as the assistant director of communications then transferred to the hospital’s Jaquith Nursing Home where he worked as an administrator.  In May 1991, he was promoted to personnel director at a sister Department of Mental Health facility, East Mississippi State Hospital in Meridian – a position he held until his appointment as director of MSH.

Chastain is a very active member of the Mississippi Hospital Association (MHA), currently serving as past-president of MHA’s Society of Behavioral Health Services and as a member of the MHA Board of Governors. He also serves on the MHA Committee on Legislation and the MHA Executive Committee. He represents Mississippi on the Board of Directors of the Southern States Psychiatric Hospital Association Board of Directors and is a past member of the American Hospital Association Section for Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Services Governing Council. He currently serves as an Alternate Delegate to the American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board 4. He is a Fellow designate in the American College of Healthcare Executives and is an active member of several community and educational organizations.

Chastain is a Licensed Mental Health Program Administrator through the Department of Mental Health.  He is also licensed as a nursing home administrator and certified as a nursing home preceptor through the Mississippi State Board of Nursing Home Administrators. Chastain received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Mississippi State University in Starkville in 1982 and his MBA from the Else School of Management at Millsaps College in Jackson in 1990.

Bo Chastain and his wife, Connie, have two children, Charlie and Anna Claire. They attend St. Richard’s Catholic Church in Jackson.