HOUSTON - After meetings of the United States Professional Tennis Association's Board of Directors and Executive Committee April 13-14 at the World Headquarters, further details emerged about the association's plans to move forward during the next year preparing for and following Tim Heckler's planned retirement as chief executive officer effective Dec. 31, 2012, after 30 years in the position.

Heckler announced his intent to retire earlier this year. Over the weekend, the Board of Directors also offered Heckler a one-year severance package through the end of 2013, which was ratified by a vote of the entire Executive Committee.

A search committee will be formed and the process to hire a new Executive Director will start by this summer. An announcement will be made in the near future about the timeline and application process.

"The USPTA is indebted to Tim Heckler for taking USPTA to the next level, and his 30 years of service as CEO is a demonstration of his passion, his commitment to the association, and his endless hard work for helping and improving the well-being of the tennis-teaching professional," said USPTA President Tom Daglis.

When Heckler, who is a USPTA Master Professional, was tapped as USPTA CEO in 1982, the organization had approximately 2,400 members and an annual budget of $700,000. Today, the association is the world's oldest and largest organization of its kind, serving more than 15,000 members in 66 countries, and operating on an annual budget of $6.5 million. Also, the Association's equity has grown from $60,000 in 1982 to more than $4.2 million today.

Heckler, who began playing tennis at age 3, started his tennis-teaching career in 1970, the same year he joined USPTA. He was elected president of the USPTA Texas Division in 1974 and served as national president of the organization from 1980 to 1982.

With Heckler's guidance, USPTA became one of the first tennis organizations to embrace technology, first through the computerization of the business itself as early as 1982, and then later through its use of the Internet and email-based communications and education. USPTA introduced its first website in 1995.

The USPTA honored Heckler in 2000 by naming him a grand inductee in the Association's Hall of Fame. He also received the International Tennis Hall of Fame's Tennis Educational Merit Award in 2002 and was inducted into the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2008 he received the highest honor awarded by the United States Professional Tennis Association, the George Bacso Lifetime Achievement Award.

For more information on Heckler, see his full biography here.