Jan Burford
Jan Burford, the president and CEO of CARTI for more than 26 years, retired Friday as the cancer treatment organization continues to work through its financial issues.
Craig Comish, the current chief operations officer, has been named interim CEO. A national search will be conducted to find a replacement for Burford, said CARTI spokeswoman Alison Melson.
Burford planned to retire about six months ago, but decided to stay and assist the management consulting firm, the Berkeley Research Group of Emeryville, California, that was hired in August.
CARTI was forced to hire BRG because it reported an operating loss of $13.8 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30. As a result, the Little Rock nonprofit fell below the required debt-service coverage ratio on the $49 million bond issue that was used to build CARTI’s four-story center that opened in November 2015.
“A few years ago I visited with the leadership of our Board of Directors and told them that I would like to retire at 63 and a half,” Burford said in a statement to Arkansas Business. “Once we realized that CARTI had not hit our debt-service coverage ratio, I extended my time until CARTI could begin seeing the outcomes of the initiatives put into place with Berkeley Research Group.
“With those initiatives now underway, I have decided to go ahead and move into retirement before I turn 64, which is next week,” she said.
Burford, a native of Little Rock, completed her undergraduate work at Hendrix College in Conway before earning a master’s degree in health administration from Duke University. After graduation, Burford worked for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock as associate hospital director and director of ambulatory services.
She joined CARTI in 1990 as chief operating officer and in 1995 was named president and CEO.
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