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.
(Blue Cross NC)
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
Patrick Conway has resigned from his role as CEO following a media firestorm over the past week following the news that he had been arrested in June and charged with driving while intoxicated. Conway posted on Twitter Thursday morning that he is "ashamed, embarrassed and sorry about my actions" and acknowledged that following the arrest he stepped back from his day-to-day duties and entered a 30-day treatment program.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and Cambia Health Solutions said they put their planned “strategic affiliation” on hold after news reports revealed Conway was charged with driving while intoxicated.
Conway, M.D., the chief executive at Blue Cross NC who would take over as leader of the two companies’ new joint corporate structure, was charged with DWI and misdemeanor child abuse following a minor crash in June, The News & Observer reported.
(Cerner Corp.)
Cerner Corp.
Darrell Johnson was hired to the newly created role of Chief Marketing Officer at Cerner where officials said he will be responsible for "leading global marketing, corporate communications and market intelligence." He will also work to develop new strategies, expand lines of revenue and help guide the organization through its next wave of growth.
Prior to joining Cerner, Johnson was the vice president of corporate data strategy at Medtronic. He also previously led Medtronic’s Cardiac Rhythm and Heart Failure (CRHF) Connected Care as vice president/general manager and served as vice president of global strategy and marketing for its multi-billion-dollar global cardiac device portfolio. Prior to Medtronic, Johnson served as general manager of telemetry and networking at GE Healthcare.
Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from the University of Minnesota and has an MBA from the Carlson School of Management.
(HCA Healthcare)
HCA Healthcare
Jennifer Berres was named senior vice president and chief human resource officer at HCA Healthcare effective November 1. She will be replacing John M. Steele, who will retire early next year.
Berres has worked at HCA Healthcare starting with Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in 1993.
She has previously served in HCA Healthcare’s Physician Services Group, West Florida Division, and currently as vice president, Human Resources Business Partners and HR Strategy where she leads a team of more than 600 human resource leaders across multiple lines of business.
(HealthStream)
HealthStream
Scott A. Roberts was named chief financial officer of Nashville-based workforce and providers solutions company HealthStream.
Roberts will also as senior vice president. He has been serving as Interim CFO & Vice President of Accounting and Finance since February 2019. Following his service in multiple positions and accompanying promotions in HealthStream’s Finance and Accounting Department after joining the Company in 2002, Mr. Roberts was promoted to Vice President, Accounting and Finance in 2015
Roberts has worked at HealthStream for 17 years following his time as a Certified Public Accountant at Ernst & Young.
> Collective Health appointed Haleigh Tebben as its Chief Business Development Officer, a new role for the organization in which she will oversee the company’s platform strategy and partner ecosystem.
> Steve Kunkel was named the permanent executive vice dean for research and chief scientific officer for Michigan Medicine. Kunkel has served in the role in the interim capacity since Oct. 28. In the role, he will lead collaboration with the research community to develop long-term strategies to grow and advance discovery science at Michigan Medicine, including partnerships across the U-M campus to further initiatives like precision health and the biosciences.
> Health IT company Greenway Health announced the appointment of four new executives to its leadership team including David Cohen as senior vice president of product management, David Millen as senior vice president of product development, Sri Rajagopalan as vice president of architecture and Sagy Mintz as vice president of quality assurance.