After more than 13 years with the United Way of Greater Portland, four of them as CEO, Suzanne McCormick plans to leave this summer and take over leadership of United Way Suncoast in the Tampa Bay area of Florida sometime before school starts in the fall.

McCormick said Tuesday that she and her family were ready for a “new adventure” after 20 years living in Maine. She added that Portland’s United Way chapter is well-positioned for continued success after she is gone.

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Suzanne McCormick

“We have a strong strategic plan in place here in Portland,” she said. “The staff is excellent and the board is actively supportive of our mission and goals.”

The charity’s executive committee is scheduled to meet Monday to finalize a leadership transition plan, McCormick said, and the search for a new CEO is likely to commence soon.

“I think it would be a highly coveted position,” she said.

McCormick first came to the United Way of Greater Portland in 1994 and worked for more than eight years in senior leadership positions. In 2001, she left to become CEO of the American Red Cross of Southern Maine and then the Peoples’ Regional Opportunity Program. McCormick then returned to the United Way as CEO in 2010.

McCormick said she had been in discussions to take the job in Tampa Bay for about two months, after United Way Suncoast President and CEO Diana Baker announced that she would retire at the end of this year. According to the Tampa United Way’s federal nonprofit filings, Baker earned $229,000 in 2012, the most recent year data is available.

McCormick said her husband and children’s enthusiasm about the move was a key condition of her accepting the job. And the prospect of living in a warmer climate didn’t hurt, either.

“We did figure out that the ratio of good weather to bad weather is better there,” she said.