By Staff Report Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Michael Powers, the director of the Ventura County Health Care Agency, was chosen Dec. 2 as the county’s next chief executive, the county Board of Supervisors announced.

The supervisors voted unanimously to hire Powers to replace current County Executive Officer Marty Robinson, who plans to retire in March.

Powers has run the Health Care Agency — the largest division of county government — since 2006. The agency has 3,000 of the county’s 8,000 employees and runs two public hospitals and a network of medical clinics.

Powers has worked for the county for 19 years, first as an attorney in the office of the county counsel. A Ventura resident, he holds a law degree from Loyola Marymount University and a bachelor’s degree in business and economics from UCLA.

Terms of Powers’ contract have not been announced. As Health Care Agency director, he has been one of the county’s highest paid employees, with a salary this year of about $243,000. Robinson’s base salary is about $228,000, and her total compensation, including retirement contributions and other benefits, is about $338,000.

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