Dear OPA Member,
As I begin my third year as your Executive Director, I reflect upon our starting point and where we are today as an organization. We stand on the shoulders of those before us, and we build tomorrow on the successes we achieve today. We have maximized the talent of senior staff while finding young and innovative talent as openings have occurred through retirements and transitions. Our programing is more extensive and engaged, our membership is broader and more inclusive, and our financial position is now strong enough to make investments back into the organization that will grow your value as a member as well as the membership itself. Our 2025 legislative agenda includes true PBM regulatory reform and moving our profession, for the first time in Ohio, to a statewide protocol for Test & Treat as well as prescriptive authority for oral contraception and nicotine cessation. 2025 should be a year of mission accomplished for OPA on many levels.
OPA is once again the strong stable state pharmacy organization for which it was founded and my role as a turnaround guy should yield way to that of an administrator who is better suited at running and growing our now stable association with better program development skills than I could possibly deliver. With our concerns addressed, finances secure, talented staff in place, and prayers achieved, I have informed the Board of Trustees of my desire to depart my position by the end of this year. They will soon begin a search for the person we need who can take us to that next level of leadership and growth. I believe there are two hallmarks of success: build something bigger than yourself and know when to step aside when someone more talented than yourself is needed. That time is approaching, and I could not be more proud, thankful, and optimistic for the future of OPA and the profession of pharmacy in Ohio. I look forward to finishing my work by completing the tasks at hand, having a warm handover to the next director and personally participating in a committee that best serves OPA in the future.
Our current and incoming Presidents of OPA, Jen Rodis and Dana Wilkerson, will lead the search for my successor. I have confidence in the plans for the search, these co-chairs, and the search committee they are assembling. I look forward to seeing you at the Annual Conference in a few weeks and celebrating the past, present, and future of pharmacy in Ohio.
David E. Burke, R.Ph., MBA
OPA Executive Director