CMA Chief Leaves to Head Cardiologists; CMA Launches National Search

The following letter was distributed to CMA members on June 19.

To CMA and County Medical Society Members and Staff:

As CMA president, it is my cheerless task to announce to all of you that after 11 years with us at CMA, our colleague, friend and leader, Jack Lewin, is moving on.

Jack has accepted an offer from the American College of Cardiology to become their CEO. He will be leaving CMA this fall and moving to Washington DC.

The Executive Committee of CMA accepted his resignation over the weekend. Jack has agreed to stay on for several months to facilitate a smooth transition.

The Executive Committee is launching a national search for a new chief executive officer. Of course, no one can replace Jack. He has led the CMA and you, its 35,000 physician members, with vision, wisdom, and grit for more than 11 years. He has sustained and built a wonderful staff, ensuring that CMA will continue its unparalleled influence in organized medicine and on health care nationwide.

Jack wanted me to share with you the following personal message from him:

It is with significant sadness, but also with considerable excitement, that I write to make official that I am accepting a generous and promising offer to become the CEO of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in Washington DC as of November 1.

My last day at CMA will be October 31, following the close of our 2006 House of Delegates and our related Sesquicentennial events.

I am sad to leave CMA after more than 11 years as your CEO/ EVP, because I truly respect and cherish the unparalleled staff team we have built, the dedication of our leaders and members, the friendships with county partners and other colleagues, and the incredible dynamism of the association.

I am also excited about being a major player in Washington DC, during a time when access to care, and health system and Medicare reform will result in unprecedented changes to the profession and to health care. Further, I am excited that the ACC is in my view the nation's most sophisticated professional association in commitment to and development of physician-directed quality of care systems.

I do not intend to be a 'lame duck' CEO at CMA. I will dedicate my remaining 5 months here to furthering our agenda and priorities with the same enthusiasm and energy as has characterized the past 11 years.

Finally, I have been greatly honored to be your CEO for this past productive decade, and I am dedicated to making the coming transition of staff leadership a smooth and successful one.

CMA is now and will continue to be the most prestigious and effective geographic professional association in America. Nothing will change that.

Thank you for allowing me to serve you during what has been a truly rewarding career experience for me. CMA will always be a precious part of my life, and the friendships made here will endure as long as Sandy and I can produce fog on a mirror.

   Jack Lewin, M.D.

Like presidents before me, I have developed a deep and personal friendship with and great esteem for Jack Lewin. I am proud to have served with him. While it is with great regret that I see Jack leave, I look forward to the future and working with our cardiology colleagues. I wish Jack and his wife Sandy the best.

I will be working with the other members of the Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees to recruit a new CEO. A search committee will be appointed as soon as possible. We will provide regular updates through Alert as the search proceeds.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Sexton, M.D., CMA President