Eden Health District taps former St. Rose executive as next CEO

Michael Mahoney takes over for retiring Eden Health District CEO Dev Mahadevan in June.

EDEN HEALTH DISTRICT
The Eden Health District Board of Directors on Wednesday named former St. Rose Hospital executive Michael Mahoney to be its next CEO. He replaces long-time CEO Dev Mahadevan, who announced his retirement in March.

Mahoney will receive a one-year, $145,000 base salary, the Board of Directors announced before unanimously approving his hiring. The position requires 30 hours of work a week and includes 20 vacation days, said the board. Mahoney takes over on June 15.

He is most well-known as a former CEO of St. Rose Hospital before stepping down in 2012 amid the Hayward safety net hospital’s struggling financial situation, which persists to this day.

Mahoney, though, was roundly criticized prior to his resignation by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, particular Keith Carson, who charged him at the time with withholding the depth of St. Rose’s financial difficulties. During a supervisors meeting when St. Rose asked for a loan to cover expenses, Carson said Mahoney had previously “lied” to the board.

“Mike lied to us. He sat here and lied to us,” recounted Carson, during a supervisors meeting in March 2012. “We asked him what the financial status was in the morning. It’s perfect. We’ve got money. We’re good,” said Carson. “That afternoon we got a letter saying we need money. We can’t make payroll.”

He resigned a week later with a severance package totaling $1.28 million.

The Eden Health District, formerly named Eden Township Healthcare District, also has history with Mahoney. In 2012, when St. Rose was struggling to meet payroll, he turned to the district for a $3 million short-term loan. However, St. Rose struggled to pay it back and nearly defaulted on the loan.

After Mahoney’s stint at the helm of St. Rose, he took a position at Tri-CED, a Union City non-profit recycling company, founded by Alameda County Supervisor Richard Valle. In 2015, Mahoney ws named CEO of the Pacific Vision Foundation. 

Former San Leandro Mayor Stephen Cassidy was also under consideration for the job and was interviewed by the board at a special meeting last Friday.

The board’s move to hire a replacement CEO follows a letter signed by Alameda County Supervisors Wilma Chan and Nate Miley sent earlier this month asking them not to do so until lingering questions over the health care district’s future are fully resolved.

Chan had pushed for the dissolution of the Eden Health District, saying the public agency no longer oversees a hospital and through its investment portfolio, primarily serves as a real estate entity. Assemblymembers Rob Bonta and Bill Quirk, along with the mayors of Hayward and San Leandro also support Chan’s proposal.

Plans for Eden’s dissolution, however, appear unlikely after the governing body charged with determining the boundaries of local districts, sided with the Eden maintaining its jurisdiction over health care matters in Central Alameda County during a meeting last month.