The Cycling CEO

Eric McBride wearing white gear and riding his bike

SRU alumnus balances executive duties with international bike races

Cycling is an activity that often mimics life. It requires balance and pedaling back and forth in one area propels you forward in another. Sometimes you need to apply more effort and other times it’s best to back off. Eric McBride knows this well. As an accomplished executive for a regional medical group, he’s made strides in his career while also achieving success as a cyclist. And his ride all started when he was a student at Slippery Rock University.

McBride, a 1996 SRU graduate with a degree in public administration, is the CEO of Tenet Physician Resources, Eastern Region, in which he oversees the Fortune 200 company’s East Coast operations that includes more than 400 doctors and health care providers and 100 practice sites. His feats as a cyclist include a bronze medal at the world duathlon championship in 2000, and he continues to compete at a high level in multi-national races in his age group.

“My personality is that I want to be the best at what I do in aspects of life,” said McBride, 50, who lives in Wellington, Florida. “I take my job very seriously and I push the team hard to achieve best in class results, and with my cycling team, we do the same.”

McBride trains about eight hours a week for races, logging miles either in the mornings or late at night around his busy work schedule.

“It’s a struggle to balance the time with work and travel,” McBride said, “but you do it for fun and try to keep it all in perspective.”

McBride developed his work ethic and passion for cycling at SRU. A native of Hermitage, McBride attended SRU to run track and cross country and pursue a career in health administration. He took up cycling as a way to cross train for his meets and recover from a minor injury. He wound up sticking with the sport, joining the cycling club team at SRU.

Eric McBride running during a cross country meet in the mid-1990s

Eric McBride ran cross country at SRU in the mid-1990s.

“On the weekends, I was racing on Saturdays at cross-country invitationals and then on Sundays, I was at cycling races or on my mountain bike,” McBride said. “I enjoy cycling because not always does the strongest person win. In running races, the fastest person wins unless they make a big mistake, but with cycling there are a lot of team tactics and that create a new dynamic and you can have specialists on each of the teams. You can have a sprinter, an all-arounder, a climber, and different disciplines and people who can win in different types of settings and race courses. That makes it a lot more fun.”

John Papa, former SRU track and field and cross country coach, remembers McBride fondly.

“He really blossomed as a runner,” Papa said. “We’ve had some other athletes that do a lot of bike riding, but few have competed to the level or degree that he did when he was here.”

One moment that stands out to Papa was when the team was in Wilmington, North Carolina, for a meet during their spring break trip. Some of the team members brought their mountain bikes and decided to go for a ride on their off day, so they invited Papa, who is now a biker but at the time had never mountain biked before.

“I’m struggling to get up this hill, and Eric rides up behind me and puts his hand on my back as he was pedaling and starts pushing me,” Papa said. “He bailed me out. He pushed me up that hill and let me recover a little bit so I could finish the ride with the guys.”

McBride pushed himself on the weekends and during the week in the classroom as well, becoming an All-Academic honoree and all-region performer. He credits his time at SRU as formative years of his life.

The growth that I experienced with my training and education was profound. I had a sense of responsibility and community in areas that I developed while I was at SRU.

“You learn a lot about yourself and your interests,” McBride said. “I’d say the growth that I experienced with my training and education was profound. I had a sense of responsibility and community in areas that I developed while I was at SRU.”

After graduating, McBride earned a master’s in business administration and master’s in health services administration at Xavier University in Cincinnati and started competing professionally in international running and cycling events.

He competed three times at the International Triathlon Union’s Duathlon World Championships. The duathlon consists of 10-kilometer and 5-kilometer runs sandwiched around a 40-kilometer cycling course. McBride won the bronze as the top American finisher in the male ages 25-29 division at the 2000 ITU Duathlon Championships in Calais, France, with a time of 2:01:53. He raced professionally for two more years before pausing to focusing on his career and raising a family.

McBride worked in various administrative roles at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital within its outpatient centers. In 2007, he moved to Dearborn, Michigan, and worked as an administrator in Heart Vascular and Oncology Services for Oakwood Healthcare System, before becoming the chief operating officer for Oakwood Physicians in 2012 and vice president for specialty services for the Beaumont Medical Group in 2015.

Eric McBride and another bike rider next to each other during a race

His career in Michigan culminated with a three-year stint as chief operating officer for Reliance Health Care in Detroit, where he was responsible for overseeing program and business operations for products and services affecting 35,000 covered lives, 400 private physicians and $400 million in annual claims.

In 2021, McBride moved to Florida to become the CEO of the Palm Beach Health Network Physician Group, which is part of Tenet Physician Resources. He oversaw operations in Florida and South Carolina before recently taking leadership of the entire region.

“I like the sense of accomplishment that I get from providing care for the patients in need,” McBride said. “There’s a lot of opportunities we’ve had for people that are doing good work and creating good outcomes. We are positioned for performance, and I’m excited to be part of it.”

After his two children, Andrew, now 24, and Kiersten, 21, got older and parenting started becoming less demanding, McBride resumed his recreational cycling in 2010, and that segued into a return to international competitions.

The coursework, training and overall education was extremely relevant to what that I’m doing today. The relationships that you have with classmates and other professionals, that development starts at the college level.

McBride won two golds and a silver medal at the 2023 Pan American Cycling Confederation Master’s Championships in the 45-49 age group in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. On the velodrome track, he claimed gold in both the 10-kilometer scratch and 30-kilometer points races. McBride earned silver in the 107-kilometer road race and placed fifth in the 70-kilometer circuit race. More than 300 athletes competed in the events from 15 countries.

He also competed in the Master’s Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester, England.

Whether its success in his career as a health care administrator or on his bike, McBride credits his time at SRU for getting off to a great start.

“The coursework, training and overall education was extremely relevant to what that I’m doing today,” McBride said. “Plus, the relationships that you have with classmates and other professionals, that development starts at the college level.”

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