Christine Zack

Easter has come and gone, but anytime is the right time to support the healthcare services provided by Easterseals Nevada (ESN). When ESN began in 1976, it was called the Southern Nevada Association for the Handicapped. The organization later expanded to provide services for the entire state and, in 2002, entered into an affiliation agreement with Easterseals, Inc. for marketing and branding purposes. Today, ESN remains an independent non-profit dedicated to enriching the lives of its clients. President and CEO of Easterseals Nevada, Christine Zack, is passionate about preventive healthcare. “The opportunity, as a non-profit, to reinvest our profits into programs, services and employee engagement and recruitment means we are able to offer preventive healthcare services to children throughout the state and provide capability enhancement, enrichment and career services to adults,” says Zack. “We are in a unique position to provide healthcare and human services to infants through seniors. Families are grateful for this continuity.”

If you ask Christine Zack to summarize her career path, she would say it sounds like the title of an article written by a former practicing attorney, Wendi Weiner, called “How I Used My Law Degree to Get Out of Law.”  During her sophomore year in college she interned for a lobbying firm that represented several healthcare clients that included non-profit trade associations. “I went to law school with the goal of becoming a lobbyist but took a detour,” Zack fondly recalls. “I first worked as in-house counsel for a national hospital and skilled nursing facility chain and was later promoted into business roles and eventually became Chief Risk Offer and Chief Strategy OfficerOfficer for three different national organizations. When I was presented with the opportunity to join ESN, which has a lobbying component, it was a chance to return to where I started my career with non-profit healthcare organizations.”

ESN specializes in pediatric rehabilitation services, including physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy for children in their homes through its Early Intervention program.  The organization also has two Therapy Clinics for kids of all ages, capability enhancement and enrichment services for adults and oversees assistive technology initiatives and independent living home and vehicle modification projects throughout Nevada. “I’ve had the opportunity to witness firsthand the continuity that we provide to families,” says Zack.  “On Valentine’s Day this year, Hewlett Packard conducted a team-building exercise with nearly 500 members of its global sales force where they assembled adult wheelchairs at the Sands Convention Center.  One of the chairs was presented to a 2-year-old ESN Early Intervention client and her mom. The mom’s acceptance speech noted that her daughter, who has Cerebral Palsy, will grow up and need one of the 80 adult wheelchairs that were built and donated to ESN.  “Hearing one of our clients talk about the link between our children’s services and adult services highlighted for me that the continuity we provide to families is truly distinctive.”

Whether its ESN or other organizations that Zack supports, such as The Shade Tree, Noah’s Animal House and even her neighborhood HOA, she believes giving back is something that not only includes donating money, but giving your “time, talents and passion.” One of her favorite quotes is a line from the Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better…it’s not.”

Christine Zack attributes her successes to her incredible personal and professional support network. “I believe in surrounding myself with people who are ‘smarter’ than me in their area of expertise, because it enhances my own knowledge base.  I also want to reiterate what Sheryl Sandberg, Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet have been credited with saying, which is a variation of ‘the most important decision you will make in your life is who you marry.’ Oftentimes we think about our professional contacts and resources outside the home when defining success, but I firmly believe that the most important factor in your career success is your spouse or partner.”

Christine Zack is married to Judd Gundersen, a Las Vegas City Firefighter and commercial pilot. They have a 6-year-old son, Bergen, who is graduating from kindergarten, and three rescue dogs.