The Board of Trustees of the MetroHealth System this afternoon voted to terminate its at-will employment relationship with its President & CEO Airica Steed. The termination is effective immediately.

“It has become clear that the Board and Dr. Steed fundamentally disagree about the priorities and performance standards needed from our CEO for MetroHealth to fulfill its mission,” said E. Harry Walker, MD, chair of MetroHealth’s Board of Trustees, in a statement released by the hospital.

“We believe Dr. Steed’s performance is not meeting the needs of MetroHealth. As a result, we have lost confidence in her ability to lead the organization going forward and believe it would not be in the best interest of the System for her to continue in her position. Therefore, we are exercising our right to terminate her at-will contract,” the statement said.

“We thank Dr. Steed for her service and wish her well in her future endeavors. We had high expectations when she arrived in 2022 and are sorry those expectations have not been met.

Steed was the first woman, the first nurse, and the first African American hired as the CEO at MetroHealth. The board’s statement referred to its high expectations when Steeld arrived in 2022 and expressed regret that those expectations were not met.

Steed went on indeterminate personal medical leave three weeks ago in what now seems a precursor to the tensions between her and MetroHealth that led to the board’s unanimous decision to fire her.

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