Sethi steps down from nonprofit to focus on Senate race

Vanderbilt surgeon Manny Sethi is stepping down as head of Healthy Tennessee while concentrating on his bid for the U.S. Senate. Sethi’s wife, Maya, will assume his former duties as president and CEO of the organization, which provides free health fairs and organizes symposiums and candidate forums.

Sethi is the only major Republican in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander so far. Former U.S. Ambassador Bill Hagerty is expected to formally enter the the race soon.

Here’s the release from the Sethi campaign:

Nashville, TN — Dr. Manny Sethi, co-founder of Healthy Tennessee and Nashville orthopedic trauma surgeon, announced today that he is stepping down as President and CEO of Healthy Tennessee. Maya Sethi, co-founder of Healthy Tennessee, will assume the duties of President and CEO.

“When Maya and I founded Healthy Tennessee, we did it because of our passion for the health of our fellow Tennesseans. Ten years later that passion still drives both of us, and while I’m focused on meeting folks around our state as I seek public office, Healthy Tennessee is in great hands with my wife, Maya, While I will not be in a leadership role for the coming months I will continue to be involved on the board and joining together with our volunteers across the state to care for patients,” stated Dr. Manny.

Healthy Tennessee has provided free health fairs, educational opportunities, and symposiums to thousands of Tennesseans in dozens of locations over the last decade. Several health care events are in the planning stages, including a statewide summit on the opioid crisis on October 7. Healthy Tennessee held a similar event in 2018 with Governor Bill Lee, Senator Marsha Blackburn, former Mayor Karl Dean and former Governor Phil Bredesen as a few of the speakers.

“I look forward to taking over as President and CEO of Healthy Tennessee so that we can continue to create more awareness about better health lifestyles in our state. We’ve experienced so much success at every level in these communities and strongly believe that our mission has just begun,” Maya Sethi said. “Healthy Tennessee will diligently work to ensure our boots on the ground operation continues.”

Maya Sethi is a litigation attorney with almost 15 years of experience. Prior to her current role as General Counsel for Rocketship Education, a national non-profit charter school management organization, she practiced white collar defense and commercial litigation. Maya also has practiced in the litigation department at HCA.

She is currently the President of the board of Tennessee Voices for Victims and serves on the board of Children’s House Montessori.

Maya and Manny Sethi live in Nashville where they are raising their two children.