Sheriff Abdelhak

Sunday, January 17, 1999
By Steve Massey, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
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Sherif Abdelhak was desperate. The health care behemoth he had built over a decade, the largest hospital system in the state, one of the largest medical schools in the country, was collapsing.
Losses were closing in on $1 million a day, and it was running out of money. Just making next month’s payroll would be a feat.Suppliers were demanding cash up front, lenders were calling loans and his directors, who had been steadfast in their support for him, were beginning to waver.
But now was not the time to panic. It was time to act. In late April of last year, the 52-year-old mastermind behind the growth of the Allegheny Health, Education and Research Foundation called together his top managers in their luxuriousFifth Avenue Place headquarters and demanded more budget cuts. "No" was not an option.
Never mind that the executives charged with running the far-flung Allegheny empire already had pared, chopped and chiseled over the past year, or that some of its Philadelphia hospitals were running short of bandages, fresh bed linens and other basics.
Abdelhak had to find more money, and quick. The managersknew that to challenge their leader when he was in this take-no-prisoners mood was risky.
Still, Donald Kaye, head of the foundation’s Eastern operations, protested that he must spend money on mandatory repairs to a hospital sprinkler system or he’d go to jail. Abdelhak would have none of it.
"Then you’ll go to jail," he snapped. "I’ve done everything for you."
It was payback time, and Abdelhakwas calling in his chits. Over the next hour, he alternately raged, fumed, even appeared to weep — then he stormed out of the meeting, something he’d done with increasing frequency that spring.
The financial fissures that had been developing almost imperceptibly in the Allegheny system over the past several years had suddenly become deep, inescapable crevasses.
Abdelhak’s life work was goingdown, taking him and the reputations of some of Pittsburgh’s most recognizable executives with it.
Almost from the start, the Egyptian-born businessman and University of Pittsburgh M.B.A. graduate relentlessly pursued his vision for Allegheny General and the Allegheny system — to be the best health care concern in the country, on par with the Harvards, John Hopkinses and Stanfords of the world. Hispowers of persuasion, and his willingness to spend money and listen to even the lowest-level employee captivated and motivated workers.
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| | Snapshot of AHERF
Spring 1998Employees: 29,500
Revenue: $2.05 billion
Assets: $2.6 billion
Debt: $1.18 billion
Inpatient admissions: 128,388* Based on Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation and tax documents | |
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Inpublic, he exuded power and confidence. He was a compelling speaker with a gift for crystallizing complex ideas and arcane health terms into eloquent, accessible language. "I remember seeing Sherif stand up at a meeting in the mid-1980s at the Hospital Council of Western Pennsylvania and ask questions in the most intelligent way, and I thought, who is this guy? He was really impressive," recalls afellow hospital president.
Abdelhak was a bigger-is-better strategist, a win-at-all-costs coach who worked long hours and expected the same of everyone. His team of advisers and mentors was small. There was David McConnell, the chief financial officer who’d find the money, a task the amateur race-car driver approached with abandon. There was Nancy Wynstra, the chief counsel who knew the intricaciesof corporate structure and law and made sure Allegheny took full advantage of them.
And there was William Penn Snyder III, the patriarch of a family that cut its fortune in iron and steel and traced its roots to Pennsylvania’s first governor, Simon Snyder. There’s been a Snyder on the board of Allegheny General or its parent almost as many years as the 113-year-old North Side institution is old,...