California State University, Los Angeles Honors Childrens Hospital Los Angeles CEO Richard Cordova as Distinguished Alumnus of the Year

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--California State University, Los Angeles has named Richard D. Cordova, president and CEO of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, as the recipient of the University’s 2010 Alumnus of the Year. Cordova is a resident of Pasadena.

“The 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare”

Cordova will be recognized during the 36th annual Alumni Awards Gala at 5:30 p.m. today, Thursday, Oct. 21, at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex on the Cal State L.A. campus. Cordova received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State L.A. in 1972, and an MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University in 1984.

Cordova’s association with Childrens Hospital Los Angeles as president and chief operating officer began on April 25, 2005. He became president and CEO, and a member of the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Board of Trustees, on April 1, 2006.

Cordova launched into his healthcare career in 1973 working for the Department of Health Services for the County of Los Angeles. Through 1991, he held various roles as a leader for Los Angeles County, serving as administrator of General Hospital of Los Angeles County (LAC/USC Medical Center) and associate hospital administrator of operations at Olive View Medical Center.

He served as the CEO of San Francisco General Hospital from 1991–98 and was a founding member of the San Francisco Public Health Authority (1996-98), which created the Medi-Cal managed care organization for the city and county of San Francisco. He then served as President of the Southern California region of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals — a non-profit integrated health care system with revenues in excess of $20 billion and 30 hospitals in eight states, a health plan with more than eight million members and eight physician groups — until 2004.

He is currently chair of the board of the California Children’s Hospital Association (CCHA), and a Board Member of the Child Health Corporation of America (CHCA) and the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI). He serves on the NACHRI Public Policy Committee.

Cordova is a founding member of the National Forum for Latino Healthcare Executives; past-chair of the Institute for Diversity in Health Management, a nonprofit organization that works closely with health care organizations and educators to expand leadership opportunities for ethnic minorities in health services management; and chair of the board of trustees of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute of the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California.

Cordova was selected one of America’s “Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics” by Hispanic Business magazine in October 2005. He was named one of “The 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare” by Modern Healthcare magazine in August 2006. He also was named a Top-25 Minority Healthcare Executive by Modern Healthcare magazine in 2008 and again this year, the second consecutive time that Cordova was selected for this biennial honor.

He completed a PEW Fellowship at the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (1987), and he is a Fellow with the American College of Health Care Executives (FACHE).

About Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

Founded in 1901, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is one of the nation’s leading children’s hospitals and is acknowledged worldwide for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is one of only seven children’s hospitals in the nation – and the only children’s hospital on the West Coast – ranked for two consecutive years in all 10 pediatric specialties in the U.S. News & World Report rankings and named to the magazine’s “Honor Roll” of children’s hospitals. The Saban Research Institute at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is among the largest and most productive pediatric research facilities in the United States, with 100 investigators at work on 186 laboratory studies, clinical trials and community-based research and health services. The Saban Research Institute is ranked eighth in National Institutes of Health funding among children’s hospitals in the United States. Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is a premier teaching hospital and has been affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California since 1932.

Attention Media: Please contact the Cal State Los Angeles Public Affairs office at 323-343-3050 if you wish to attend the Alumni Awards Gala on Oct. 21.

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