CLEVELAND, Ohio – William Denihan will end a decades-long career in public service this fall when he retires as CEO of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County.
Denihan, 79, will retire Aug. 1.
“Chief Denihan has led a long and distinguished career in public service which has included his extraordinary leadership of the ADAMHS Board for the past 15 years,” Eugenia Cash, chair of the board, said Thursday in a statement. “His dedication to individuals and families living with mental illness and addiction has been evident every day of his service to the Board and the community.”
The board will soon begin a search for a new CEO.
Denihan became executive director of the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board in 2001 and led the consolidation of that board with the Alcohol & Drug Addiction Services Board of Cuyahoga County in 2009, creating the ADAMHS board.
“Working in government for over 35 years at the time of the consolidation I can tell you that opportunities for change are few and far between,” Denihan said in a statement. “Both boards had the desire to work with the community and each other and take the necessary steps to plan a thorough and successful process that saved $4.4 million in administrative, personnel and facility costs that were redirected back into services.”
Denihan has said he considers himself a “public servant” and “acts as a change agent of government.” He has served as:
- First executive director of Ohio’s State Employee Relations Board
- Acting director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources
- Director of personnel, both for Ohio and Cuyahoga County
- Deputy administrator and state claims director for the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation
- Chair of the Nuclear Power Evacuation Plan for Ohio
- Public service director for City of Cleveland
- Executive director of the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services
- Director of highway safety for Ohio, in charge of the Highway Patrol and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles
- Cleveland public safety director
- Acting Cleveland police chief
In March 2002 former Bishop Anthony Pilla asked Denihan to head a commission to investigate the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland’s handling of child sex-abuse cases.
More recently Denihan chaired the Mental Health Response Advisory Committee, a component of the settlement agreement between the Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice that addresses concerns about the Cleveland Division of Police use-of-force policies and practices.
He ran unsuccessfully for Cleveland mayor in 2001. In 2006 he was a finalist for chief executive of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
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