After Vote at Today’s MAC Board Meeting, Dr. Eric Hartman Joins and Dr. M. Douglas Lynes Continues on MAC Executive Committee
Under MAC By-Laws, at the MAC Board of Directors’ first meeting of the year, the incoming Board is charged with electing one of their members to the position of Director of Financial Affairs and one of their members to the position of Director of Internal Affairs. At today’s January Board meeting, Dr. Eric Hartman of Jenison was elected to serve as Director of Internal Affairs, and Dr. M. Douglas Lynes of Portage was elected to serve another term as Director of Financial Affairs.
Dr. Hartman and Dr. Lynes join MAC President Dr. Kenneth Murkowski, II, of Clarkston, and Vice President/Director of External Affairs Dr. Steven Simmons of Midland, who were elected in November 2024, and Chairman of the Board Dr. Robert Markle of Bay City on the Executive Committee. Executive Committee terms began January 1st and run through December 31, 2026.
About the MAC Executive Committee
Dr. Kenneth Murkowski, II, President
Dr. Murkowski was elected last year to serve as the MAC’s tenth President. As President, Dr. Murkowski serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the MAC and is responsible for the general and active management of the business of the organization. He is also charged with ensuring that all orders and resolutions of the MAC Board of Directors are put into effect. The President also presides over Executive Committee and general membership meetings. During the past two years, Dr. Murkowski served as Vice President/Director of External Affairs.
Prior to his tenure as Vice President/Director of External Affairs, Dr. Murkowski served as Chair of the MAC Insurance Relations Committee. He previously served on the Executive Committee as Director of Internal Affairs (2019-2020), overseeing the Ethics/Peer Review, Insurance, and Education/Programs Committees, and as a member of the MAC Board of Directors representing District 7. Dr. Murkowski has also served as District 7 President and Vice President of District 4.
Each year, the MAC presents its Rising Star award “in appreciation of members who are stepping above and beyond for the chiropractic profession by taking on leadership roles.” The MAC named Dr. Murkowski our “Rising Star” for 2016. A second-generation chiropractor and one of three practicing chiropractors in his family, he is a graduate of Palmer.
Dr. Steven Simmons, Vice President of External Affairs
As Vice President/Director of External Affairs, Dr. Simmons acts as the liaison between the Executive Committee and the Government Affairs and Legal Affairs committees. During the past two years, he served as Director of Internal Affairs. 2025-2026 will mark his third term on the Executive Committee.
Dr. Simmons has served on the MAC Board of Directors representing District 5, as Vice Chair of the Ethics and Professional Conduct Peer Review Committee, and as a member of the Legal Affairs Committee. In 2020, he and his wife, Vanessa, received the MAC’s “Community Champion Award” “in recognition and appreciation of their unselfish commitment to serving others and their community” for his efforts during the “500-year flood event” in Midland.
A 1999 graduate of Palmer, Dr. Simmons was voted by his Palmer classmates “Most Likely to Build a Shrine to B.J. Palmer.” He has fulfilled that title. His collection includes more than four sets of the original green books, several original portable adjusting tables, and an original knee chest table from the 1900s. He currently also serves as the Michigan State Representative for Palmer College of Chiropractic’s Alumni Association. He has been a Palmer College of Chiropractic Presidents Club member since March 2003.
Dr. Eric Hartman, Director of Internal Affairs
With his election to the position of Director of Internal Affairs, Dr. Hartman begins his second stint on the Executive Committee, having previously served one term as Director of Internal Affairs (2013-2014) and two terms as Director of Financial Affairs (2009-2012). As Director of Internal Affairs, Dr. Hartman acts as the liaison between the Executive Committee and the Ethics, Professional Conduct & Peer Review Committee, as well as the Insurance Relations and Education & Programs committees. Dr. Hartman continues to serve on the MAC Board of Directors representing District 7.
The past two years, Dr. Hartman served on the MAC Board of Directors representing District 7. He also served as a member of the Government Relations Committee and as Chair of the Committee’s MAC-PAC Subcommittee. Dr. Hartman joined a forerunner organization of the MAC as a student member from Palmer in 2001.
Prior to attending Palmer, he attended the University of Michigan and Grand Valley State, earning a BS in Social Science. He has previously served the MAC as a member of the Membership Recruitment & Benefits Committee and the Education & Programs Committee, and as a past president of District 7. At the 2007 Fall Convention & Exhibition, he was the recipient of the “MAC Rising Star Award.” Dr. Hartman also serves his community as Vice President of the Jenison Public Schools Board of Education.
Dr. M. Douglas Lynes, Director of Financial Affairs
Dr. M. Douglas Lynes returns to the Executive Committee for the third time as Director of Financial Affairs. In this important post, Dr. Lynes serves as liaison between the Executive Committee and the Audit & Budget and Membership Recruitment & Benefits committees. Dr. Lynes has served as a member of the MAC Board of Directors representing District 6 since 2014.
In 2017, the MAC Leadership Committee presented the organization’s “Rising Star Award” to Dr. Lynes “in appreciation of members who are stepping above and beyond for the chiropractic profession by taking on leadership roles.”
In December 2022, Dr. Lynes was appointed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to serve on the Michigan Board of Chiropractors. Dr. Lynes holds a bachelor’s degree in organic chemistry from Southwestern Michigan College and earned his doctorate from Palmer in 1996. He served as an Associate Clinical Instructor for Activator Methods from 2015-2018.
Dr. Robert Markle, Chairman of the Board
As Chairman of the Board, Dr. Markle presides over MAC Board of Directors meetings and acts as the liaison between the Executive Committee and the Public Relations Committee. Dr. Markle served the past two years as the MAC’s ninth President. His tenure was marked by the MAC commercial run, the passage of legislation codifying the provider anti-discrimination provisions of Section 2706(a) of the Affordable Care Act, the effort to allow chiropractors to perform DOT and school athletic pre-participation screenings, and the first-ever regional ChiroThon.
Dr. Markle served on the MAC Board of Directors representing District 5 since the inception of the MAC in 2007 until his election to Vice President/Director of External Affairs in 2021. In 2015, he re-joined the Executive Committee after a nearly 10-year absence, serving as Director of Financial Affairs. During the MAC’s first two years (2007-2008), Dr. Markle served on the Executive Committee as Director of Internal Affairs.
In 2020, Dr. Markle was named the MAC’s Chiropractor of the Year “in appreciation for valuable leadership, service, and dedication above and beyond the call of duty to the chiropractic profession.” The award was given primarily for his heroic efforts as a first responder who worked tirelessly when the Midland community faced massive flooding at the end of May 2020. In 2013, Dr. Markle was the recipient of the MAC Community Champion Award, given yearly “in recognition and appreciation of their unselfish commitment to serving others and their community.” Dr. Markle has also been awarded the MAC Dedicated Service Award as a member of the Sergeant-at-Arms Subcommittee. Dr. Markle has served his state association in many ways over the years, including as President of MAC District 5.
For more on the MAC Executive Committee and Board of Directors, see the upcoming February 2025 edition of the MAC Action Report.
