Stepping Into the Possibilities

Elizabeth “Beth” Howell ’82 may have taken an unexpected career path, but she has used it to make a difference.

By Sara Baxter

In 2013, Beth Howell ’82 was having a casual conversation with a friend who asked her if she knew anyone who would be interested in the president and chief executive officer position that was open at Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities.

She might, she said, and asked about the qualifications.

“As he was mentioning each one, I kept thinking, ‘I can do that… check,’” remembers Howell, who at the time was vice president of academic administration at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, where she had worked in various positions for 23 years. “Though I wasn’t really looking for a new job, I became very interested.”

Not only was she not looking, but she did not even have an updated resume. Yet she applied and says that with each interview, she became more passionate about the position.

“I’d worked in a children’s hospital but more behind the scenes,” she says. “I felt like I could impact families more directly in this position.”

It was another step in a not-so- traditional career path.

Howell planned to be a high school history teacher. She graduated from Agnes Scott College with a history degree, earned her teaching certificate and enjoyed student teaching at nearby Decatur High School. But later, when she could not find a position at the schools of her preference, she took a job at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she had worked the previous summer. From there, she held various positions at different companies in the Atlanta area before taking a job at Egleston Children’s Hospital in 1990 as a project manager. In 1998, after the merger that created Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, she was asked to take the job of special assistant to the CEO/chief compliance officer. Through the years, she took on more responsibilities, eventually working her way up to vice president of corporate oversight and chief compliance officer, and then vice president of academic administration.

“It was never a career path I planned on, but I really enjoyed my work at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta,” she says. “It was ‘learn as you go,’ and I was never bored.”

Howell believes all her positions there prepared her to take over the leadership position at Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities, where she has been working for the past seven years.

The organization manages several programs that support families in their time of need, namely when their children are being treated for a serious illness or injury. Ronald McDonald House Charities is probably most well-known for its Ronald McDonald House programs throughout the country, which offer housing to families whose children are receiving care at local hospitals. The two Atlanta houses are located near Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Egleston and Scottish Rite campuses.

“We provide a home away from home,” Howell explains. “It’s a real community where everyone understands what you are going through. It’s an amazing benefit. These families are dealing with all kinds of situations, and it’s a real roller-coaster ride. We are there to make it a little easier for them.”

Since the first house opened in 1979, the Ronald McDonald Houses in Atlanta have served more than 60,000 families. Families are asked to make a donation of $20 per night, but no family is turned away if they cannot contribute. Each room sleeps up to four people, and families have access to a game room, arts and crafts, and a full kitchen. Volunteers provide meals on a regular basis.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Howell says things have been challenging, but they have managed to stick to their mission of helping families. To keep everyone safe, they have limited the number of people in the houses, instead putting some families up at nearby hotels.

“We still give them care packages and gift cards to local restaurants, the same perks they would receive if they were staying at the houses,” Howell says. “They are still part of the community.”

Beyond the two Ronald McDonald Houses, the organization also supports and staffs a Ronald McDonald Family Room on the fifth floor of Scottish Rite for parents whose children are receiving care in the oncology and hematology unit. The room provides a respite from the hospital setting and a place for families to rest, reset and relax.

Under Howell’s leadership, the organization introduced the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, a 40-foot vehicle that goes into communities where children may not have access to health care. The Care Mobile focuses mainly on asthma care, including screenings, treatment and education, and also provides routine sick visits and back-toschool vaccines.

While she oversees all the activities of Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities, Howell says the best part of her job is interacting with the families.

“They are so inspiring,” she says. “They never thought they would have the strength to withstand the challenges they are facing, and they do. They get connected to the other families, and it’s wonderful to be a part of that community.”

Howell will be the first one to tell you that her career has taken what she calls a “weird path.” And she credits her Agnes Scott experience for giving her the confidence to take every opportunity that has come her way.

“Agnes Scott gives you the value of a women’s education,” she says. “You gain self-confidence and pride in who you are. It set me up for success and taught me that the path you are given may not be the path you set out on, but you need to take it, because it’s there for a reason. By taking that approach, you can expand and grow and make a real difference.”

Ronald McDonald Houses around the world provide families with comfortable and close places to stay during their children’s medical treatment at nearby hospitals. The Ronald McDonald Houses in Atlanta are located near Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Egleston (the house pictured) and Scottish Rite hospital campuses. Photos courtesy of Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities.