Hospital Trustee Chair Tom Metcalf steps down

The easy-going, up-front and affable guy with the gavel at Carson-Tahoe Hospital's Board of Trustees meetings will be moving on as of Sept. 30.

Tom Metcalf, chairman of the hospital's board, will step down to concentrate on his family and business.

With a 15-year-old son and two girls, ages 12 and 13, on Carson City's Tigersharks swim team, Metcalf said he wants to spend more time at the meets and family vacations.

"My wife needs a husband, my kids need a father and this is a good transition point," he said.

The challenges surrounding the hospital's transition from a public to a private, nonprofit hospital are just beginning according to Metcalf, who said it's time for some new blood: people who have the time and energy to devote to the project. He said the hospital is firmly on the right track.

"With the right capital and/or strategic partners, the hospital's future is bright," Metcalf said. "They might need either or both, and the next real challenge is identifying those."

Metcalf said his business has grown and he is feeling the weight of the 20 families now involved in this employee-owned company. Metcalf Construction concentrates on commercial buildings in California, Nevada, Texas and Florida and he expects to do $15 million in business this year.

He said he loves the business, but will miss the board and its challenges.

"I don't mind the bad stuff. I like getting in the middle and hitting things head on," Metcalf said. "I'm not one to shy from issues."

Board vice chairman Caleb Mills backed that up.

"He was a no-nonsense kind of person. He gets the business done and moves on with it," Mills said. "The board's responsibility is strategic direction and not micromanaging in the hospital. Tom's not a meddler. He let them run the hospital the way it's supposed to be run, which is nice."

The 43-year-old Metcalf moved to Carson City with his wife and children eight years ago from Kailua on the main island of Oahu, Hawaii, where he was construction manager for a Canadian construction company.

He holds a degree in civil engineering and construction management from Northern Arizona University and spent five years working on committees and the board at Carson-Tahoe Hospital, first as a member of the building committee in 1997.

"I was the only contractor on the committee at the time," he said. "They were very glad to see me."

He chaired the building committee from 1998 to 2000 and was appointed trustee when a vacancy came up in 1999. He ran unopposed for the board, a four-year term, in 2000 and has held the position for 20 months.

He has three children with his wife, Rhonda. Sarah is 12, Lauren is 13, and son Brad is 15.