After nearly 30 years, a top executive at Kansas City based Cerner Corp will step down
A top executive at Cerner Corp. will leave the company after nearly three decades, officials announced Wednesday.
Marc Naughton, executive vice president and chief financial officer, said he will stay on board as the healthcare IT firm searches for a new executive. The company announced Naughton would depart the firm as part of its quarterly earnings report after financial markets closed on Wednesday.
Naughton has been at the company, which is the Kansas City area’s largest private employer, since 1992. In addition to serving as the CFO, he’s also worked as a tax manager and led Cerner’s mergers and acquisitions.
“I’d like to thank Marc for his distinguished service and strong leadership. Marc played a key role in supporting Cerner’s growth throughout a career that has spanned nearly 30 years,” CEO Brent Shafer said in a news release. “He has also been instrumental in Cerner’s transformation and providing continuity as we onboarded several new leaders in recent years.”
On an earnings call with investors on Wednesday, Naughton said it had been “an incredible honor” to work at Cerner, noting the company’s annual revenue climbed from $100 million to more than $5 billion during his tenure.
“During that time, we’ve had countless reasons to celebrate along with facing several challenges,” he said. “It has definitely made for an exciting and fulfilling career.”
In February, Naughton sold 176,000 shares — worth nearly $14 million — of Cerner stock. At that time, he still owned nearly 100,000 shares of the stock, which was trading for $70.64 at the end of the day Wednesday.
Last November, the company announced that Chief Operating Officer Mike Nill, another company veteran, would retire by the end of 2019. Around the same time, the company announced the departures of Chief Strategy Officer Joanne Burns and Jeff Townsend, executive vice president and chief of innovation.
