PROFILE By Lou Sorendo
Michael C. Backus Son of successful publisher, former county clerk makes transition into private sector as second in command at Oswego Health
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t 29, Michael C. Backus was elected to the post of Oswego County clerk in 2012, the youngest to ever hold that position in New York state. Now at the age of 36, he was recently named executive vice president and chief operations officer at Oswego Health. The Mexico resident has hit the high note at a relatively young age and the future looks promising for a man whose roots are firmly entrenched in the community. He is ready to parlay his family background in community journalism as well as his experience in government administration and healthcare into a positive career as a respected leader. He recently resigned as clerk, leaving the post to take over as Oswego Health’s second in command. The health system is the third largest private employer in Oswego County with more than 1,000 employees, according to the 2020 Business Guide. Backus has the challenging role of stepping into a high-level leadership spot in the midst of a global pandemic. “When I first started discussing this opportunity with my family, the pandemic was certainly a topic of discussion,” he said. “As an eternal optimist, I will always try to find positivity in a situation.” Backus said as an independent health care system, Oswego Health is positioned to provide quality, safe health care throughout the pandemic and will have the ability to attract providers who may be looking to get away from high-density population centers. “That’s an advantage for us and through some strategic partnerships, I believe we’ll be able to maintain that independence and grow the organization,” he said. His father, Mark H. Backus, was a third-generation owner of the Mexico Independent and published several weekly newspapers throughout Oswego County. 16
“Watching my father from an early age lead a business that my grandfather and great-grandfather built only to have social media transform the entire industry was hard,” he said. Backus loved working in the shop and hearing the printing press roar and shake the entire building. “There was tremendous pride when I told my father that a group of friends and I started a school newspaper,” he said. “I loved writing and selling advertising for the weeklies for a few years after college. It was and is in my blood so to speak.” The experience shaped Backus as a professional because it instilled a sense of responsibility. “We had a responsibility to provide community journalism, refrigerator journalism, to Oswego County that mattered to our neighbors,” he said. “We didn’t print the police blotter or gossip columns. We shared the triumphs of the local high school sports team or what’s happening this week at the VFW.” He said this helped spread good cheer and build community. “That’s so important in my mind in today’s world when we truly need each other more than ever,” he said. Backus said COVID-19 will present a number of behavioral health challenges as the history on this time period is written and some of the lessons he learned working for the weeklies will help Oswego Health and himself provide those services to the community in a meaningful way. “We will emerge from this pandemic in a variety of ways and as we rebuild our lives, we’ll OSWEGO COUNTY BUSINESS
need each other to do so,” he said. Backus said his educational experience at Le Moyne College in Syracuse helped shape him into the person and professional that he is today. That was a primary reason he agreed to join the Board of Regents at Le Moyne College. “There is something uniquely special about the Heights and being a Dolphin,” he said as he referred to Le Moyne’s mascot. Backus became committed to the college’s
OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2020
