CLARKSBURG -- The Department of Veterans Affairs has tapped a 26-year veteran of the department to take over permanent management of the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Administration Medical Center in Clarksburg.
Glen Struchtemeyer has served as the associate director of the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System since September 1989. He is expected to arrive Thursday.
Struchtemeyer's appointment comes in the wake of a federal investigation into allegations of fraud and mismanagement by former top executives.
Officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Inspector General audited the hospital and found evidence of improprieties by specific employees within the Facility Management Program, certain construction contractors and local vendors.
The allegations included mismanagement of construction contracts, violations of acquisition regulations, improper purchase card expenses and improper trading of VA-owned vehicles.
Numerous changes already have been made at the hospital and Struchtemeyer's appointment signals more good things to come, hospital spokesman Stan Frum said.
"The way I'm looking at it is this: now we have a permanent CEO who will be here for the long term who can help us move forward and hopefully help us learn some lessons from what happened," Frum said. "Hopefully, he will be able to lead the charge, because we need to take a good hard look at what happened and some of the things identified by the (Inspector General) so it never happens again."
Struchtemeyer replaces Joe Williams, who was assigned to Clarksburg temporarily from Pittsburgh, Frum said.
As assistant director of the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System, Struchtemeyer was responsible for all administrative support activities for the Biloxi, Miss., medical center, a community-based outpatient clinic in Panama City, Fla., two outpatient clinics in Mobile, Ala., and Pensacola, Fla., and a mental health facility in Gulfport, Miss.
He began his VA career in 1975 with the Shreveport, La., medical center and has served as chief accountant at the Bonham, Texas, facility, assistant chief of fiscal services at the Mountain Home, Tenn., facility, chief financial officer at the Houston center and assistant director of the medical center in Little Rock, Ark.
Regional writer James Fisher can be reached at 626-1446 or by e-mail at jfisher@exponent-telegram.com
