Trustee's Corner: Steve Gaidos

Steve Gaidos cares about community, and as the new chair of the MCV Foundation Board of Trustees, he says there isn’t any better place to be to make an impact. 

He is especially emphatic about the importance of VCU Health’s status as a safety net hospital, where all patients have access to life-changing treatment, clinical trials and cutting-edge medical research. 

“Not everyone understands that while you can go to other hospitals and get turned away, here, you won’t,” he said. “That’s important for the health of our community.”   

Gaidos joined the MCV Foundation board in 2019 and has served on several key committees, including as chair of the foundation’s strategic planning task force. He said as he prepared for his newest role as board chair, he heard from many people in the community who reiterated the foundation’s importance.  

“Their words motivate me every day to do what I can to move the foundation forward,” he said. 

With more than 30 years of experience in technology strategy, solution design and implementation, Gaidos retired as general manager of the Virginia market of Terazo, a Richmond-based software engineering firm.  

He recently participated in the MCV Foundation-led Community Internship Program at VCU Health, which brings together community leaders and potential supporters for a daylong program designed to provide deep insights and behind-the-scenes access to the inner workings of the health system. Participants don scrubs and tour the VCU Medical Center after hearing directly from senior leaders on the MCV Campus about areas of distinction and opportunities.  

“I thought I knew a lot about that, but my day as an intern amplified that knowledge tenfold,” he said. “For example, I knew the health system’s reputation for being the region’s first Level 1 trauma center, but what I didn’t know was that the physicians and medical teams don’t just sit on that knowledge — they go out to all the first responders in the region and do classes on lifesaving techniques, wound care and how to administer therapeutics like naloxone, which is used to reverse opioid overdoses.”  

Success in his new role, he said, is greater regional awareness and growing philanthropic support for the cutting-edge treatment and transformative research happening across campus at VCU Health and the VCU Health Sciences schools.

Among his immediate charges as chair will be leading the foundation through a national search for its new president and CEO. 

“We have the opportunity to find our next generation leader,” Gaidos said. “It’s going to mean change for the organization, but what steadies me is the amazing staff here at the foundation and our incredible board members who have the talent, energy and intellect to guide us into the future.”