Leinen retires from MCMH after 39 years

After nearly 40 years of looking after the finances of the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Rick Leinen is retiring.
Leinen’s last day at MCMH is Dec. 30.
“When I started at MCMH we didn’t have a CFO, we had a controller,” recalled Leinen. “I was the controller for six or seven years. As the hospital grew, and we moved out here to the new facility, our roles were expanded, my job title changed to CFO, and they hired a controller.”
As the CFO, Leinen conducts financial studies, provides financial justification for newly purchased equipment, invests the funds of the hospital, reports to Medicare/Medicaid, works on cost reports, and oversees the billing, payroll and accounts payable departments.
“What I will miss most are the people. When you spend eight to 10 hours a day here, it’ll be hard to just shut that off; it’ll be tough,” said Leinen. “We have a great culture up here; it’s a family culture.”
A finance and accounting graduate of Northwest Missouri State University, Leinen is a native of Council Bluffs. He initially was a broadcast major with the hopes of one day writing comedy for the Johnny Carson show. Once he started talking to other broadcast majors and learning how little they made; he switched majors.
When he and wife, Rita, came to Red Oak in 1983 for the MCMH job interview, he recalls pulling into the hospital and noticing plywood windows on the west side of the facility.
“A big hailstorm had gone through. I also remember as we were leaving town, a bolt of lightning struck not too far ahead of us on the road. We were thinking it was a sign, but we didn’t know what for,” he chuckled.
He said at the time it wasn’t an easy decision to uproot and move to Red Oak, but it was the right decision.
“This is a great community,” he said.
Working with the hospital’s budget, Leinen said he was the first person at MCMH to get a personal computer for their office in 1986.
“It was an Apple computer and it had floppy drives.”
He recalled it would take the PC roughly two hours to recalculate when working on the hospital’s budget.
“Equipment has changed so much, and moving up here in 1989 was a huge change for us as well.”
Additionally, medical advancements have improved greatly since Leinen began.
Leinen said the opportunity for him to retire hinged on finding the right person, which they did, in Bryant Blay, who is the Controller at MCMH.
“He will sit in my seat after the first of the year. Knowing he’d be my replacement definitely helped me make the decision to walk away.”
Rick and Rita have three children, Nick, Andy and Sara, as well as six grandchildren. After retirement, Rick says he plans on spending time with his grandchildren, finishing up several projects and traveling with Rita. He added his parents reside in Council Bluffs and need his help more as they age. On top of that, Leinen plans to remain active in the community organizations he is in. Leinen is a Red Oak Optimist, Red Oak Ambassador and serves on the Red Oak Chamber and Industry Association Finance committee.
“All of us at MCMH owe Rick a huge debt of thanks,” said MCMH CEO Ron Kloewer. “His financial stewardship has helped our community hospital be successful for 40 years. That is amazing and all of us are the beneficiaries of his lifetime of service and good work. On behalf of so many people whose lives he has touched over the years, and that of a grateful community, I want to thank him for his lifetime of service and offer him good wishes and a long life in retirement. Thank you, Rick.”
- Ron Kloewer

The Red Oak Express

2012 Commerce Drive
P.O. Box 377
Red Oak, IA 51566
Phone: 712-623-2566 Fax: 712-623-2568

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