David Cord

VA Butler Healthcare Director David Cord “will be stepping down voluntarily” from his job Monday, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced in a late-afternoon news release Friday.

Also on Monday, Cord will be replaced by Philadelphia VAMC Associate Director for Clinical Operations Patricia OKane.

Cord has been director of VA Butler Healthcare since 2015.

Cord will now work at the Veterans Health Administration’s Procurement & Logistics office in Pittsburgh.

“I can see myself being here for quite some time,” Cord said in a 2015 interview with the Butler Eagle.

Cord was a former U.S. Air Force lawyer and 16-year veteran of the Veterans Affairs system. He had worked at VA Butler Healthcare from 2006 to 2008 as the director of human resources, and two years ago he spoke about the move here bringing him closer to family in Pittsburgh as well as the overall size — 19,000 veterans served in four counties — as appeals of the Butler job.

A Butler Eagle review found VA Butler Healthcare gets a new director about every four years. Since 1946, only two of the system’s 18 directors made it beyond a fifth year.

“There are times in every organization when new leadership is needed. This is one of those times, and we agree with Cord that appointing a new leader is in the best interests of the facility and the veterans served by the Butler VA,” according to the VA’s news release.