Mayo Clinic's national president and CEO, Dr. Denis Cortese, will retire in November.
Cortese to step down as Mayo Clinic's CEO
February 28, 2009 at 4:50AM
Cortese, who turned 65 on Friday, has been the clinic's chief executive since 2003. He has become an advocate for reforming the nation's health care system, and the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center was formed under his watch, bringing the clinic national exposure and a seat at the health-reform table with both Congress and President Obama's administration.
James Barksdale, chairman of Rochester-based Mayo's board of trustees, praised the service Cortese has offered Mayo for 33 years. "Under his leadership, we have built our financial reserves and endowment in preparation for the financial challenges we are seeing today, and have begun a strategic transformation to best position us for the future," said Barksdale, who will lead a search committee to find a successor.
The search committee will interview candidates for a successor and submit a report to the board at the May meeting, Mayo spokesman Karl Oestreich said.
"The plan is that Dr. Cortese would remain fully engaged through the transition process and his tenure would end at the Nov. 13 board meeting this year," Oestreich said.
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