The board of directors of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, 310 E. 14th St., recently appointed D. McWilliams Kessler as its new president and chief executive officer, succeeding Joseph P. Corcoran, who recently retired after 13 years as president and C.E.O.
Kessler served from 2002 to 2006 as president and C.E.O. of the New Jersey-based Henry H. Kessler Foundation, a $260 million public charity devoted to improving the lives of people with disabilities. From 1985 to 2002, he was the executive director of the world-renowned Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia where he helped lead an expansion and diversification program.
Peter Frelinghuysen, chairman of the Eye and Ear Infirmary board, lauded Kessler’s 28 years of experience in nonprofit management, finance, planning, education, research, marketing and development.
While at Wills Eye Hospital, Kessler was responsible for construction of a $70 million surgical hospital, a $23 million neurosurgical facility and a new gero-psychiatric inpatient facility. He also developed Wills Surgical Network, a hospital-owned, multi-specialty ambulatory care network embracing 13 centers and 36 operating rooms.
He has served as president and chairman of governmental affairs of the American Association of Eye and Ear Hospitals and served as an associate administrator at Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Philadelphia from 1977 to 1981. He earned a master’s degree in health administration from Duke University in 1976.
