My Cornell Bio

This bio has been added to my Cornell University faculty bio page and will remain there throughout my two-year tenure as Executive-in-Residence in the Graduate Program for Health Administration.

For the first six years after graduating from the Sloan Program in 1974, Frank Niro worked in the Boston office of Ernst & Young where he served health care clients as an auditor and management consultant. His consulting projects included a feasibility study for a new outpatient facility at Massachusetts General Hospital, a development study that led to the creation of the Tufts Affiliated Health Maintenance Organization, and a strategic plan for the hospitals serving the Lake Placid region during the 1980 Olympics. In addition, he was an advisory member of the firm’s national task force on alternative health delivery systems.

During his tenure at E & Y, he took a year-long sabbatical to work as a project manager for Hotels of Distinction, a hotel management company based in Boston, where he was involved in the daily operations of the Copley Plaza Hotel, renovation of the Biltmore Hotel in Providence, RI, and development of new hotel management contracts.

After returning to E & Y, Frank was invited by the Board of Trustees of Symmes Hospital in Arlington, MA, to serve as interim administrator during the extended illness of the hospital’s chief executive officer. After Symmes merged with a neighboring hospital in 1981, Frank left E & Y to become the new entity’s chief financial officer. He was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 1984.

In 1987, Frank was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Glover Memorial Hospital in Needham, MA, were he served for five years before being named President of Neponset Valley Health System in Norwood, MA. He was acknowledged as one of the “Top 25 Turnaround Hospital Administrator’s in the U.S.” by Healthweek magazine in March, 1989. In 1994, he accepted the position of CEO at Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough, NH, where he worked until suffering a stroke in May, 1997.

Beginning in 1986, Frank taught as an adjunct professor at four different colleges and universities: University of Massachusetts Lowell (Healthcare Finance), Stonehill College (Systems of Care), Emmanuel College (Comparative Health Systems) and Northeastern University (Healthcare Marketing & Strategic Planning). He was awarded a specialized fellowship in chess and education by University of Texas at Dallas in 2000 where he earned 18 credits towards a Ph.D. before returning to work as volunteer Executive Director of the United States Chess Federation in 2002. He retired for health reasons after a heart attack in 2003.

Frank has spent the last few years on the west coast with his wife, Natasha, working on his memoir All Over the Board. He continues to volunteer his expertise as a member of numerous non-profit boards and committees. Frank and Natasha will reside in Ithaca during his appointment as Executive-in-Residence. His office is on the third floor of MVR Hall.