Kansas City’s Cerner Corp. hires Google executive David Feinberg as its newest CEO
Cerner Corp. has hired a Google executive to serve as the next chief executive of the healthcare IT firm.
The board of directors on Thursday announced the hiring of Dr. David Feinberg, the vice president of Google Health. Feinberg, 59, is a medical doctor and healthcare executive who previously worked at Geisinger Health and UCLA Health.
“Over the past few months, our board conducted an extensive search for a CEO candidate with the expertise and ability to effectively capitalize on the opportunities in the market we serve,” Cerner board member Mitch Daniels said in a news release. “With his exceptional track record of leading and innovating programs to improve patient care, technology experience, and industry expertise, we believe Dr. Feinberg is the ideal CEO to lead Cerner in its next chapter of growth and success.”
An SEC filing shows Feinberg will be paid a base salary of $900,000, but he will make millions in extra compensation. He’s eligible for a bonus of up to $1.35 million, nearly $15 million in restricted stock awards and a one-time cash bonus of $375,000.
He will also be given a one-time new hire award of restricted stock worth $15 million.
Cerner’s filing also says the new CEO is allowed to personally use the firm’s corporate aircraft up to a value of $100,000 annually.
Altogether, the package is worth about $33 million.
Feinberg’s hiring is sure to further fuel speculation that tech companies like Amazon, Google or Apple may be interested in acquiring Cerner.
At Google, he oversaw the company’s worldwide health efforts, bringing together groups from across Google and Alphabet that used artificial intelligence, product expertise and hardware to tackle healthcare challenges.
In Cerner’s announcement, Feinberg said he looked forward to profitably growing the business “by driving global healthcare transformation.”
“I am thrilled to join a company that is so uniquely well-positioned to provide technology solutions that enable clinicians to take better care of patients while driving better clinical, operational and financial outcomes for organizations of all sizes,” his statement said. “I look forward to expanding opportunities for Cerner clients and associates while affecting real change in healthcare and enhancing value for our shareholders.”
In May, Cerner’s board of directors announced the imminent departure of CEO Brent Shafer. At that time, board leaders said the news wasn’t a surprise: Shafer was 60 years old when he came on board in 2018 and committed to spending three to five years at Cerner, said William Zollars, the lead independent director of the Cerner board.
Shafer was the first outsider to lead the firm since co-founders Neal Patterson, Paul Gorup and Cliff Illig created the company in 1979. Patterson served as chief executive until his death in July 2017.
After Patterson’s death, the board pushed for more robust succession planning, Zollars said. And Shafer’s tenure has represented a new era for the company.
“Neal Patterson was one of a kind. He was an icon in the industry, a brilliant guy, founder of a very successful company and the CEO for 30 years. So you can’t take anything away from Neal’s success,” Zollars said in May. “I think what Brent brought in was a little more professional management style than maybe what Neal had because Neal was still an entrepreneur at heart.”
During his tenure, much of Cerner’s top leadership has changed as Shafer worked to reposition the company for the future. While Cerner was once on the cutting edge of converting paper medical records to electronic ones, most of that domestic market has been saturated. In recent years, the company has been looking for ways to diversify its business model and executives undertook an exhaustive review of all operations with the aid of third-party consultants.
Feinberg will serve as a member of Cerner’s board. On Thursday, the company announced that current board president Donald Trigg will leave Cerner. The board also announced that it will separate the roles of chairman and chief executive officer. It appointed William Zollars as independent chairman.
It’s just the latest change in top leadership.
In January, the company announced two more executive changes: John Peterzalek, chief client and services officer, and Randy Sims, chief legal officer, left the company as Cerner promoted Travis Dalton, who previously led the Cerner government services division, and Dan Devers, the company’s senior vice president of cloud strategies.
Marc Erceg began as Cerner’s new chief financial officer in February. Erceg previously worked as the CFO of three other publicly traded companies, most recently as an executive vice president and CFO of Tiffany & Co.
He replaced Marc Naughton, executive vice president and chief financial officer, who left after nearly 30 years at the company.
In November 2019, the company announced that Chief Operating Officer Mike Nill, another company veteran, would retire by the end of the year. 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.
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 3:43 PM.
