Looking Forward with Great Expectation

Dean J Bender • Executive Director American Vein & Lymphatic Society Foundation for Venous & Lymphatic Disease

Welcome to the fourth Executive Leadership Summit (ELS) of the FVLD! It was almost exactly seven years ago at the ELS II that the leadership from the American College of Phlebology (ACP) and the executive leadership of our corporate partners gathered here in Chicago to layout our strategic vision and plan for the future of the College and how we could work together to shape the future of this field. Serving as Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the ACP Foundation, I recall the excitement of everyone as we challenged ourselves to expand the scope of the College to better meet the needs of our specialty through Research and Advocacy while maintaining its excellence in Education.

Following the ELS II, the College began a transitional process that saw the retirement of our Executive Director of 26 years, Bruce Sanders. Bruce’s retirement allowed me to transition from a long-time active member of the ACP and corporate executive to a full-time employee of the College as your Executive Director in July of 2017.

With great excitement and enthusiasm, I joined the ACP. Having been a part of developing the new strategic vision, I was a part of executing that vision alongside the friends and colleagues I had come to know well over the years. We quickly finalized the five-year strategic plan that began to take shape in 2015 and chose to entitle the plan “New Horizons” (2017-2022). Immediately, the Foundation launched a new capital campaign to develop the funding to support the goals and objectives we set for ourselves.

This edition of the MyAVLS Magazine highlights many of the various achievements of the Society for you. I hope when you stop and reflect on all we have achieved over the past five years, you realize the impact that you, as a member of this Society, have made to advance the future of our field!

All the many things we achieved concerning Advocacy, Research, and Education are summarized best in our name change to the American Vein & Lymphatic Society in 2019. The name change exemplified our membership’s commitment to a dedicated medical specialty in venous and lymphatic medicine embracing the full responsibilities of advancing the field to provide the highest quality patient care for generations to come.

The need to Advocate on behalf of the specialty, invest in Research, and Educate the diversity of our membership more accurately defined us as a Society. We ARE: the American Vein & Lymphatic Society.

In addition to changing our name and brand, the Society demonstrated our commitment to our plan by investing in two new key staff positions, a Director of Research and a Director of HealthCare Policy and Advocacy. We also relocated the corporate offices of the Society to Chicago in 2018, placing us in the center of more than 65 medical associations, including the offices of the AMA, and enabling us to attract some of the finest societal professionals available:

Robert White, Director of HealthCare Policy & Advocacy | Michael Thompson, Director of Research

Joyce King, Director of Continuing Medical Education | Amanda Godwin, Director of Marketing & Communications | Sarah Sabet, Marketing Coordinator

Brian Jones, Director of Membership

Emily Hornung, Membership Coordinator | Amy Pfaffenbach, Director of Meetings & Events | Betty Sanchez, Director of Finance | John Mangold, Managing Director of Development & Corporate Relations

Know that you have an open invitation to swing by your offices when passing through Chicago. Spend time with your staff and learn more about how they serve our members daily to advance our mission and vision.

The past five years as your Executive Director have been challenging and exciting as we have achieved so much in pursing the New Horizon! And now, it is with Great Expectation that we look forward to the next five years and what we will be able to achieve together!

At your service, Dean