Honorees Mano Mahadeva and Mark McGuire hold top jobs in healthcare management.
Mano Mahadeva Relied on Perseverance — and Three Alarms — to Achieve His Goals
Many moons ago, in his words, Manoranjan (Mano) Mahadeva flew from Sri Lanka into New York’s LaGuardia Airport with $45 dollars in his pocket. He hopped a bus to the cornfields of Nebraska, where he worked cleaning barns while attending Wayne State College on dual scholarships.
Last month, Mahadeva, a UT Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management alumnus who is now chief financial officer of Solis Mammography, was named one of the Dallas Business Journal’s top CFOs of the year. The award was presented to 19 top area chief financial officers.
“I came from a tropical country to a land with four seasons, with no idea what to expect,” Mahadeva says. “I had never done farming in my life. But it was great people and a continual learning experience for me. It took a lot of hard work and perseverance. After two years, socially and culturally, I decided I needed to move on. I moved to Texas.”
Mahadeva earned his MBA in management from Texas A&M University, Commerce, followed by a BS in Business and Public Administration from JSOM in 1981. While at UT Dallas, he worked full time at two jobs — at McDonald’s and Tom Thumb grocers – often setting three alarms spaced across the room, to ensure he made it to classes and jobs on time. One morning, running late for work, he remembers he wore the “wrong uniform to the wrong place.”
After graduating from JSOM, Mahadeva began a job as assistant controller at Presbyterian Village North, a Dallas retirement community. Since then, he has served in various positions at The US Oncology Network/McKesson Specialty Health, Physician Reliance Network Inc. and Associated Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. He has been CFO of Solis Mammography since 2013.
Mahadeva is a strong advocate of jobs in the healthcare industry.
“Healthcare as an industry is very stable. People need healthcare. While oil and gas, and real estate may go up and down, depending on the economy, healthcare is stable because it is something we all need,” he says. “I like to tell students that healthcare doesn’t just involve jobs as doctors and nurses. Who runs all those people and manages them? And does the finance and accounting and administrative sides of healthcare?
“The Jindal School offers a great healthcare program and has attracted some great professors and sharp people. I am very excited about the new programs and degrees now being offered there, including a bachelor and master’s program in healthcare administration.”
Mahadeva is working on a PhD in public policy analysis at UT Dallas on a part-time basis. He also is in his fifth year of serving as a student mentor at the Jindal School of Management.
“I meet students frequently, maybe once a month,” he says. “I try to help them with brainstorming on what direction they might want to go, assisting with their résumés, talking about careers and more. It’s been fun and exciting to work with these students.”
Mark McGuire Beat His CFO Deadline by a Year
Jindal School alumnus Mark McGuire, MS 2006, recently was named one of the top area CFOs by the Dallas Business Journal. McGuire is the chief financial officer of Dallas-based THMED LLC.
The award was given to 19 CFOs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for their leadership and superior management skills, demonstration of financial growth for their company, success in overcoming significant business challenges or barriers, and more.
“I am quick to refer people to UTD. The experience I had at UT Dallas was excellent and my degree from there has served me well during my career,” says McGuire, who graduated with an MS in Accounting and Information Management. “I started at UT Dallas while I was working full time, as I decided I needed to get my master’s degree. I chose UT Dallas for its affordability and for the national recognition its school of business had gained.
“I was extremely surprised and delighted how beneficial my experience there was. So much of the course content was relevant to what I was doing in my career. Plus, I loved the flexibility that UT Dallas offered in its online and night courses. And, that the professors were very accessible and extremely helpful.”
Growing up in Muleshoe, Texas, McGuire said he was influenced by his father to consider a career in finance. At 22, he made a list of the goals he hoped to achieve later in life. One of which was to be the CFO of a $10 million company by the age of 35.
Today, at THMED, McGuire has achieved that objective a year before his deadline. THMED, which stands for “Transcend Health and Medical,” provides staffing solutions for healthcare clients. Prior to serving as CFO there, McGuire served in various positions at Balfour Beatty Construction, Delta Companies Inc., Paragon Health Capital Corp. and Tenet Healthcare Corporation.
“When I first started at THMED, there were less than 20 people in our organization,” McGuire says. “I was a jack-of-all-trades — responsible for accounting, finance, legal, insurance, human resources, and even some office duties such as ordering supplies. As we’ve grown and have more people in place, many of these responsibilities have stayed under my supervision.
“One of the comments from the Dallas Business Journal judges was that the items on my list — which I do on a regular basis – are extremely extensive and a tribute to how much a CFO takes on in today’s business environment.”
