In 1992, as ASCO approached its 30th anniversary and membership grew to nearly 9,000, two issues were of central importance to the Society’s leaders: how best to safeguard the organizational effectiveness and structure of ASCO, and, at the same time, how to enhance that structure to provide maximum benefit to members as well as the domestic and international oncology communities.

To address these fundamental operational issues and goals for future expansion, ASCO initiated a strategic planning process. With direction from Robert C. Young, MD, Chair of the ASCO Strategic Planning Committee, and the assistance of a third-party strategic planning firm, the Society conducted interviews with Board members, Committee Chairs, and key opinion leaders to evaluate the soundness of ASCO’s administrative structure and to solicit suggestions for improvement of that structure. According to Dr. Young, “The goal of this process was to take a look at the Society and see if it needed changes in response to changes in the environment.”

At that time, the management and day-to-day activities of the Society were organized according to a tripartite structure, with administrative functions carried out by Bostrom Corporation, a third-party management firm with headquarters in Chicago; legislative activities coordinated by a Government Relations office, established in Washington, DC, in 1990; and public relations issues handled by a contractor in New York. During the interview process, ASCO leaders were asked whether there was a need to streamline the organization and governance of the Society, in consideration of the growing size and scope of both its member base and activities.

The answer was a resounding, “Yes,” and at the March 1993 meeting of the Board of Directors, the ASCO leadership proposed and approved the following measures, designed to encourage and facilitate the transition from external management to self-operation:

Motion: That ASCO establish the full-time position of a Chief Staff Officer and begin a search for that Chief Staff Officer who is a cancer-oriented physician to assist the Board of Directors in implementing its policies and mandates. 

Action: Approved.

Motion: That the Chief Staff Officer should be a full-time employee of the Society rather than a full-time executive officer for ASCO employed by a management firm.

Action: Approved.

Motion: That the administrative structure evolve toward that of an independent ASCO office with appropriate independent staff assisted by contract support as necessary.

Action: Approved.

Motion: That the ASCO headquarters be located in or near Bethesda, Maryland.

Action: Approved.

The Executive Committee of the Board of Directors initiated and led the search for the Chief Staff Officer, and on April 1, 1995, appointed John R. Durant, MD, as ASCO’s first Executive Vice President.

Dr. Durant was charged with the task of centralizing the widening scope of the Society’s activities under a single administrative roof, and his first steps were to secure an independent office space for ASCO and to begin the development of a full-time, professional staff for the purpose of providing, in his words, “ongoing oversight of the Society’s fiscal affairs and experienced staff support for the increasing workload of ASCO’s committees.”

This he did ably and quickly, so that by the time 1995-1996 ASCO President John H. Glick, MD,delivered his Presidential Address, at the 1996 Annual Meeting, he was able to report that, “During the past year, we have moved from association management by the Bostrom Corporation to a full-time ASCO staff and headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.” The 1996-1997 fiscal year was the first in which ASCO functioned as a self-operating professional organization, and by year’s end, the Society included six departments: the Office of the Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration, Health Services Research, Public Policy, Membership Services/Meetings, and Science and Education.

The exponential growth of ASCO services and staff to support them continued under Dr. Durant’s leadership, and by the time he retired from his role as Executive Vice President, in 2000, the Society had already relocated to a larger office space in Alexandria. Reflecting on the significance of ASCO’s transition to self-management, Dr. Durant says that, “There is no question in my mind that the Board of Directors’ decision in the early 1990s to bring the management of the Society inhouse was one of the most important, perhaps the most important, made in the lifespan of ASCO.”

The opportunity for the development of professional oncology resources that the establishment of an ASCO headquarters and professional staff created allowed the Society to grow at a pace unparalleled during its first three decades. In the 32 years from 1964, the year of its incorporation, through 1995, the year Dr. Durant was appointed Executive Vice President, the Society membership increased from 66 to slightly more than 10,000. By 2005, just 10 years after the creation of the Office of the Executive Vice President and ASCO headquarters, that number had risen to more than 22,000, truly establishing ASCO as the premier oncology society in the world.