Fletcher McCusker, founder, chairman and CEO of Tucson-based Providence Service Corp., will retire from the company by the end of the year to pursue other interests - including his efforts to boost downtown redevelopment.
Warren Rustand, currently Providence's lead director and former CEO of Rural/Metro Corp., has been named interim chief executive officer, the company announced Monday.
A managing partner of one of Providence's biggest institutional shareholders will replace McCusker as chairman.
McCusker, 63, said he had been looking to make a change but wanted to leave the company he founded in 1996 on a good footing.
"It's kind of been in the works," he said. "I wanted to move on, young enough to do something else."
McCusker said the re-election of President Obama and the Supreme Court's upholding of key parts of the health-care reform law eliminated much uncertainty for Providence, which provides social services under government contracts.
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Providence has seen its Medicaid enrollment surge since the recession made more people eligible, and the company expects a big influx of new clients next year as the health-care-reform law widens Medicaid eligibility. But Republican challenger Mitt Romney had vowed to repeal all or parts of the law.
"With a Romney win, health-care reform would be dramatically different," McCusker said. "The company's in pretty good shape, so it allows me to exercise my very nice parachute and move on."
McCusker has become a major booster of downtown Tucson redevelopment since the company decided to move its headquarters and consolidate other local operations to a historical building downtown in 2010.
He was an organizer of the popular 2nd Saturday downtown events and was named chairman of the Rio Nuevo downtown development authority in June.
"This will allow me to become even more involved in downtown causes," McCusker said of his impending retirement.
In other changes, Christopher Shackelton, managing partner at Coliseum Capital Management and a current Providence director, will replace McCusker as chairman of the board. Coliseum Capital is one of the company's largest shareholders.
Providence Chief Financial Officer Michael Deitch also will retire by the end of the year. He will be replaced as CFO by Robert Wilson, formerly a managing director in the health-care-advisory practice of the accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP.
Providence was hit hard by the financial meltdown in 2008, as states that contract for its services pulled back on spending. Providence's share price plunged from more than $30 to less than a dollar before recovering to the $12 to $15 range by late 2009.
The company's stock closed Monday at $11.85 per share, down more than 2 percent in trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
Providence shares have traded as low as $9.56 and as high as $15.94 per share in the past year.
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Warren Rustand, newly named interim CEO of Providence Service Corp., was appointments secretary to President Gerald Ford from 1974 to 1976.
Contact Assistant Business Editor David Wichner at dwichner@azstarnet.com or 573-4181.