When Southwestern Medical Foundation CEO Kathleen Gibson notified the Foundation’s board last May that after a decade with the Foundation she hoped to step down at the end of the year, a search was undertaken for the person to follow in her footsteps.


Despite her plan to leave at the end of 2022, she stayed on to help her successor make the transition.
That transition has taken place with the announcement that Michael McMahan will officially be taking over the leadership of the Foundation “that now manages approximately $1.1 billion in assets and 1,000 funds established to support UT Southwestern.”
Working with such figures will be no problem for Michael, who “recently completed the $335M ‘A Charge To Keep’ campaign to endow the Bush Center’s work.”
During his 11 years working at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, he “rose from a program manager to his most recent position as vice president of corporate planning and developing.”
A graduate of both The University of Texas at Austin and SMU’s Dedman School of Law, Michael previously served in the George W. Bush administration in the Department of Energy.
According to Southwestern Medical Foundation Board of Trustees Chair Jere Thompson Jr., “Kathleen’s outstanding leadership over the last ten years has left the Foundation in an enviable financial and operation position. The board will be forever grateful for Kathleen’s steady hand and the indelible mark she leaves her. And we are truly excited about Michael’s selection and appointment.”
Established in 1939, the Foundation “was created to rally citizens in support of the highest quality health care possible in the Southwestern U.S. Out of that community vision, UT Southwestern Medical Center emerged. Today it remains the Foundation’s partner and most significant beneficiary.”