Dr. Joann Massey joins regional leaders for American Heart Association Executive Breakfast

EDGE President and CEO Dr. Joann Massey recently joined fellow Mid-South leaders as a featured panelist for the inaugural American Heart Association Executive Breakfast, an invitation-only gathering focused on workforce well-being, community health, and the role leadership plays in creating healthier communities.

The event brought together senior executives from across the region for a peer-driven conversation centered on how organizations can strengthen workplace culture, support employee wellness, and build stronger outcomes for both individuals and communities. Through storytelling and discussion, leaders explored the growing connection between organizational health, workforce resilience, and long-term community impact.

Dr. Massey joined a panel alongside leaders from healthcare and industry, including Michael Crystal of Kroger and Monica Wharton of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, with Sam Coates serving as moderator. Together, the panel explored the importance of partnerships in improving both individual and community well-being and discussed how organizations across sectors can work together to create healthier, more connected communities.

For Dr. Massey, the conversation aligned closely with the work EDGE supports every day across Memphis and Shelby County. Economic development is often associated with jobs, investment, and infrastructure, but strong communities also depend on healthy people and workplaces. Access to opportunity, stable employment, strong neighborhood assets, and community partnerships all contribute to broader quality of life and long-term economic vitality.

Throughout the discussion, panelists emphasized that workforce health is a shared responsibility that requires collaboration across business, healthcare, nonprofit, and civic sectors. That idea reflects how thriving communities are built through partnerships.

At EDGE, this means helping create the conditions where businesses, employees, and neighborhoods can grow together. Through supporting employers, strengthening commercial corridors, encouraging entrepreneurship, or helping attract investment that creates quality jobs, economic growth and community well-being are deeply connected.

The breakfast also reinforced the importance of cross-sector dialogue in addressing some of the region’s most pressing challenges. By bringing together leaders with different perspectives and expertise, the American Heart Association created space for meaningful conversations around workforce health, culture, and community impact.

EDGE is proud to have Dr. Massey represent the organization in conversations that strengthen Memphis and Shelby County. The inaugural Executive Breakfast served as an important reminder that when organizations work together around shared priorities, they can create healthier workplaces, stronger communities, and greater opportunity for all.