You may have heard the news: I am now the executive chairman at RealSelf, and COO James Coyle has agreed to step into the CEO role. If you hadn’t heard, I wrote about this in detail and shared the update with a letter to our doctor community, below.
These postings say it best, but leading up to the announcement I read about other founder CEOs who described transitioning their role to another person as similar to performing a dangerous brain transplant. They cite that there is so much tribal knowledge built up, it’s hard to imagine it taking hold within another leader.
But for RealSelf, and for myself, this wasn’t a risky operation. I started mapping out my transition to executive chairman some time ago, and have had a great business partner in James. Together we built trust and rapport, all while James demonstrated tremendous competency and results as a leader.
With James helming the day to day, I’m excited to have more time for thoughtful conversations with all of you through Hey Seery!
Fourteen years ago. I founded RealSelf. I am proud and excited to share that along with recognizing this milestone, I just announced to our team that our COO, James Coyle, has agreed to become the CEO of RealSelf as I transition into the role of executive chairman.
I’ve provided details about this transition and more about James on this blog post, but I wanted to underscore that this is an evolution I’ve been charting for some time, and going forward I’ll remain very active and involved in RealSelf.
In fact, I see the executive chairman role as enabling me to devote more to the work we’ve already initiated to better serve our doctor community and customers, ranging from engaging the 15-member medical advisory board to providing $4M in payment forgiveness for customers shutdown due to Covid-19. James and I are equally interested in ensuring you and your practice get what you need to compete and realize return from your marketing investments—and the challenge that comes with it. We know that our work is never done at meeting your needs, but we are committed to delivering.
Connect with me
If you haven’t already, please connect with me on LinkedIn, and join me in exploring diverse topics on my Hey Seery podcast. I also recently sat down with Dr. Grant Stevens for his Technology of Beauty podcast where I share the news about the transition, and I reflect on how he was the first doctor to respond to my wife who, 14 years ago, did our initial outreach to practices!
Thank you for partnering with me and our team. I am sincerely grateful and look forward to many years more of collaboration and connection.
Warm regards,
Tom
