ACOFP: OUR CONTINUING HISTORY 145 Leadership Betty Warner, CAE, was hired on June 1, 1999, as assistant executive director. Upon George’s announcement of his impending retirement, Betty took the reins as acting executive director on Feb. 1, 2000, and then became executive director on May 1, 2000. Betty Warner was the first director to have an impressive array of various management degrees and business certifications. She was also chosen out of an impressive field of applicants, unlike the earlier process of using personal contacts and, “I know a guy or gal,” as the major mode of recruitment. Betty was an organizer and a stickler for detail, almost to a fault, some might say. She worked tirelessly on updating policies and procedures to improve efficiency and help strengthen the budget, which was dipping due to the gradual erosion of pharmaceutical financial support. She was instrumental in overseeing the establishment of the Center for Procedural Excellence, which was designed to increase ACOFP members’ skills at a variety of procedures while offsetting some operational expenses. The procedural medicine skills center became the forerunner of the popular workshops offered today at ACOFP annual meetings. Betty Warner, however, will best be remembered for recruiting and hiring Peter L. Schmelzer, CAE, as her deputy executive director. After only a year and a half on the job, Betty suddenly and unexpectedly resigned during a summer board retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia. Little is known about the reason for her departure, but in that short time, she had modernized many of the policies and procedures and streamlined operations. She fortunately had prepared her successor well during her 15-month tenure, paving the way for the easy decision of the Board of Governors to promote Peter Schmelzer to the position of executive director on Oct. 7, 2002, by a unanimous vote. Pete provided strong and steady leadership throughout the 16 years he led ACOFP. Betty Warner had assigned him the task of making the board knowledgeable and proficient with using computers for communicating, with the goal of eventually moving the college to communicating through the internet and using Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations. This was not an easy task, considering many of the board members at the time thought a Blackberry was the main ingredient in jam, and only those engaged in secret operations needed a password, but he continued until all were trained. Under Pete’s direction, the national office staff Peter L. Schmelzer with members of the ACOFP Board of Governors and staff at the 2012 AOA House of Delegates, where he accepted the Bob E. Jones, CAE, Award.
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