Former CEO of Mutual Aid EMS said resignation was related 'directly to issues within the workplace'

Gene Komondor said in a statement released Thursday that he resigned as CEO from Mutual Aid EMS for workplace-related issues, not personal reasons as asserted in a news release distributed by the ambulance agency this week.

“While my decision to resign was, in fact, highly personal, I did not resign for personal reasons,” he said in the statement. “The reasons leading up to my resignation were professional, related directly to issues within the workplace.”

Komondor said he didn’t want to leave the post he had held for less than two years, or the employees who work there, because “they are the true reason I enjoyed the job so much.”

Mutual Aid board Chairman Bill Panasiti declined to comment on Komondor’s statement when reached by the Trib. Komondor was hired as CEO of Mutual Aid, Westmoreland County’s largest ambulance service, in April 2023.

He told the Trib he submitted his resignation Jan. 7 and, on Tuesday, the same day Mutual Aid officials issued a news release about Komondor stepping down, was told he was no longer needed in the office. The resignation is effective April 7. Ambulance officials said Chief Financial Officer Jason W. Ross assumed the duties of interim CEO while the board figures out its next steps.

The workplace issues Komondor referenced in his statement emerged over the past several months, he said. He declined to elaborate.

“I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve as CEO of Mutual Aid Ambulance Service,” he said in the statement. “It was a privilege for me to work with the employees there and to be involved with the mission of providing high-quality pre-hospital care to the more than 180,000 people that Mutual Aid serves in Westmoreland County.”

Komondor served as North Huntingdon’s emergency management coordinator from 2007 to 2020 and owned the Trans Care ambulance company until it was purchased by a larger, multi-state operation.

Mutual Aid’s CEO position is no stranger to turnover. Komondor succeeded Douglas DeForrest, who held the position for less than two years before leaving in June 2022. The move was termed a “mutual decision” between DeForrest and the ambulance service, a spokesperson told TribLive.

Prior to DeForrest, Joseph Yencha served as CEO from 1982 until he was removed from his post in February 2020 — along with operations director William Groft and business office manager Theresa Straka.

Mutual Aid covers 34 communities across almost 1,000 square miles in the county. The ambulance service generated $25 million in revenue in 2023, according to its Form 990, a tax document filed by nonprofits. But it operated at a loss of more than $900,000 as expenses were about $25.9 million, according to its tax form.

It had $42.7 million in assets as of 2023. Officials have been looking in recent months to boost revenue through direct support from the municipalities the agency serves.