Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please submit the good news—or the bad—from your shop, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Rite Aid
Board member Elizabeth “Busy” Burr has been named the interim chief executive officer of retail giant Rite Aid following Heyward Donigan’s departure as president and CEO.
Burr previously served as vice president, head of health ventures and chief innovation officer at Humana. Most recently, Burr held the position of president and chief commercial officer at Carrot, leading the launch of the company’s digital health solution. Previously, she was managing director at Citi Ventures and global head of business incubation of Citigroup.
Donigan accepted the position of CEO in August 2019 after nearly five years as president and CEO of Sapphire Digital. She succeeded John Standley, who held the CEO spot since June 2010. Standley became president of Walgreens in August 2020 but left that post in September.
Rite Aid affirmed its 2023 fiscal-year guidance for total revenues between $23.7 billion and $24 billion and net loss between $584 million and $551 million. The company has begun the search for its second CEO in four years.
DrFirst
G. Cameron Deemer has been promoted to the role of chief executive officer after DrFirst founder James Chen moved to the position of executive chairman of the board.
Deemer joined the healthcare technology company in 2004 as director of product management before becoming general manager in 2005 and president in 2006. The two have stood at the helm together for 16 years. Under Chen’s leadership, DrFirst pioneered many products and services that shaped the industry today, Deemer said in a press release, a legacy he hopes to continue.
Chen launched the company to coincide with the new millennium on Jan. 1, 2000. In the 24 subsequent years, the industry firsts developed include
combining payer information and pharmacy delivery in one e-prescribing application, creating an embeddable e-prescribing capability for electronic health record systems, forging the concept of electronic prescribing for controlled substances and creating in-workflow real-time benefit checking, among others.
Before joining DrFirst, Deemer filled the role of assistant vice president of product management for PCS Health Systems and led the e-prescribing and practice management product strategy at NDCHealth. As part of the leadership succession, Anthony Brooke has been tapped as chief technology and innovation officer after being hired in the role of chief innovation officer in 2020.
Virgin Pulse
Jeffrey Jacques, M.D., joined Virgin Pulse, the healthcare arm of the Virgin Group, as the company’s chief medical officer.
Jacques touts over 20 years of experience in digital health innovation and caregiving including more than a decade with CVS Health/Aetna. He previously co-founded CareTribe and held the reins as the digital health platform’s CEO. The platform, which supports family caregivers, was acquired by family support company Cleo in 2022, where Jacques became chief strategy officer.
While at CVS Health/Aetna, he founded NeoCare Solutions, a CVS Health/Aetna business supporting parents of children in the NICU, and was chief clinical innovation officer at ActiveHealth Management, a CVS Health population health company.
In April, the company also announced the addition of Steve Halleen as vice president of consultant relations as well as the promotion of Jeff Yoshimura to executive vice president of product and innovation and Rebecca Murray as vice president of its client solutions group.
DotCom Therapy
Omar Dawood, M.D., has been appointed as chief executive officer and board member at digital pediatric therapy and support company DotCom Therapy, which employs therapists treating developmental delays, difficulties associated with traumatic events, autism spectrum disorder, anxiety and depression, among other conditions.
Dawood holds experience as head of commercial strategy and president of BetterUp Care at BetterUp, chief medical officer and head of sales for Calm and chief medical officer of Ginger and president of Ginger Medical Corporation (now Headspace Health).
He brings a real-world perspective to the position as a teenage stage 4 cancer survivor, healthcare provider and digital health veteran.
DotCom therapy recently announced a new app offering peer support and resources to parents of special needs children.
> Verily announced several leadership changes. Amy Abernethy, M.D., Ph.D., will expand her role to both president of product development and chief medical officer. Scott Burke will expand his responsibilities as chief technology officer by adding hardware engineering and devices teams to his present wheelhouse. Lisa Greenbaum will increase her duties in a new chief commercial officer role to include sales, marketing and corporate strategy teams.
> UChicago Medicine tapped Sandra Valaitis, M.D., for the position of chief physician.
> UnitedHealth Group named Dame Vivian Hunt as its new chief innovation officer.
> UCM Digital Health announced Rondi Rabuse as president and chief operating officer.
> Friday Health Plans welcomed Rhonda Bagby as chief financial officer.
> UC Health has named Cory Shaw as the health system’s new president and chief executive officer.
> Icario, a healthcare engagement and activation platform, appointed Marc Willard as chief executive officer.
> Curve Health appointed Matthew Michela as chief executive officer of the senior care platform.
> Strava appointed TMRW Life Sciences CEO Tara Comonte to the fitness subscription’s board.
> HCA Florida Ocala Hospital welcomed Kevin Klauer as chief medical officer for HCA Florida Ocala Hospital and HCA Florida West Marion Hospital along with three free-standing emergency rooms.
> Dartmouth Health unveiled Jennifer Gilkie as chief marketing officer.
> Medica has named Missy Durant as its first chief people officer.
> Highmark Health Plan is promoting COO Tom Doran to the position of president.