MANAGED CARE April 2012. ©MediMedia USA
Timothy J. Stezzi — Tim to those who know him — created this publication 21 years ago and now goes into well-deserved retirement. I think. Tim is the sort of guy who is likely to start another enterprise from scratch, or run for office, or decide that his considerable skills might be worth passing on and find himself back in the classroom teaching.
He’s leaving us, that much we know. He will be much missed. His steady hand and business acumen helped calm the waters of the creative chaos needed to put out a magazine each month. Tim kept true to the vision that compelled him to jump into the “entrepreneurial sea” in 1991. “The quality of the publication — of the editorial content — is what matters,” Tim says.
As it happens, I have been with the magazine almost as long. Anyone with knowledge of the publishing world understands how rare that is. Editors often clash with publishers, and some publishers replace editors almost at whim. It can be a brutal business.
Tim and I have had our differences over the years, but Tim follows a code in his dealings with others. “The publisher/editor relationship can be antagonistic, but only if the publisher or the editor wants to dictate the direction. If they’re on the same path with the same goal, then there should be less friction.” And there has been precious little friction.
Tim’s legacy will be carried on by his business partner, with whom he launched MANAGED CARE, Timothy P. Search, who is president and group publisher at MediMedia Managed Markets. Tim and Tim sold MANAGED CARE to MediMedia some years ago and continued to oversee the publication, all the while pursuing other projects for the company. Tim Search will be working with our new publisher, Maureen Dwyer Liberti, to keep MANAGED CARE the pre-eminent magazine in the managed care industry. Wish them luck. And Tim Stezzi? By all means, wish him luck too, but he has always been able to make his own luck. Best wishes, Tim Stezzi!