With the sudden and unexpected resignation of Doug Parrott, WDA has again formed a search committee to find a replacement who will lead our Legislative Office.
President Dr. Ryan Braden (Lake Geneva), President-Elect Dr. Ned Murphy (Racine), Vice President Dr. Dave Clemens (Wisconsin Dells), Immediate Past-President Dr. Paul Levine (Milwaukee), Legislative Advocacy Committee Chair Dr. Steve Stoll (Neenah) and Wisconsin Dental Political Action Committee Chair Dr. Chris Hansen (Two Rivers) will assist me in the process.
After less than three months on the job, Mr. Parrott informed me he was “having difficulty relating” to our issues and “was not passionate about health care.” Effective March 24, he left the Wisconsin Dental Association to return to his previous position with the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association.
Our lobby team has been busy reaching out to well-respected colleagues and legislative Capitol staff to make them aware of this WDA employment opportunity. To date, I have received seven resumes from qualified individuals. The plan is to select the top four candidates and schedule interviews in early May with a start date of June 15.
While I certainly did not anticipate having to conduct another search this soon, the timing is actually good as the next few months are fairly quiet in the Capitol. If all goes well, there will be sufficient time to get our new person trained and ready to go prior to the start of the next legislative session in January.
In closing, I want to thank Erika Valadez and Dana Ponce in our Madison office for keeping things running smoothly during this transition.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Best of luck in the search!