Dr. David Feinberg, who most recently led Google Health as a vice president after serving as CEO of Geisinger Health, will join Cerner Corp. as president and CEO in October.
Feinberg's appointment closes out a CEO search the Kansas City, Mo.-based electronic health records company kicked off in May. He succeeds Brent Shafer, who has served as Cerner's chairman and CEO for three years. Shafer joined Cerner in 2018 after the death of the company's co-founder and CEO Neal Patterson.
Cerner previously said Shafer would continue to serve as a senior advisor for one year to ease the transition.
Cerner on Thursday also said the board will split the role of chairman and CEO.
Although Feinberg will serve as a member of the board of directors, the chairman role will go to William Zollars. Zollars, who previously served as chairman, president and CEO of YRC Freight, has been a member of Cerner's board of directors since 2005. He will take on the chairman role at Cerner in October, when Feinberg joins the company.
"We are fortunate to have someone with Dr. Feinberg's skills, vision and operational expertise to lead Cerner at such a pivotal time in our evolution," Zollars said in a statement Thursday.
Cerner's current president, Donald Trigg, will leave Cerner.
It's the latest shake-up in Cerner's C-suite this year, which has also seen changes in the chief financial officer and chief client and services officer roles.
Cerner is working to redefine its business, shifting from a company focused on EHRs to one focused on data and data systems—notably, with a goal of creating a $1 billion "data-as-a-service" business. The effort has also involved a cloud partnership with Amazon Web Services, Amazon's cloud arm that competes with Google Cloud and Microsoft Corp.'s Azure.
And Cerner in 2019 deployed a new "operating model" designed to make the company more efficient and profitable. The company restructured its board of directors and launched a set of more than 100 cost cutting, portfolio management and business simplification efforts to improve its adjusted operating margin.
Feinberg in a statement said he will "continue to profitably grow the business" and called Cerner "uniquely well-positioned" to provide technologies that let clinicians take better care of patients.
Feinberg most recently served as vice president of Google Health, tasked with organizing teams across the technology giant and its parent company Alphabet to coordinate the company's health efforts and create what was then a new Google Health team. He joined Google in 2019 after four years as president and CEO of Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger.
At Geisinger, Feinberg pushed the use of new technologies and tools—like DNA sequencing for all of its patients as part of routine care.
Before Geisinger, Feinberg worked at UCLA Health for more than two decades, including as president and CEO.
Modern Healthcare named Feinberg one of the magazine's 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare for 2020.
Cerner posted $1.5 billion in quarterly revenue, up 9.5% from the year-ago quarter, for 2021's second quarter. The company reported $49.6 million in operating earnings, down 66%, and an adjusted operating margin of 21%, compared to 18% a year ago. As part of its new operating model, Cerner is targeting an adjusted operating margin in the mid-20% range by 2024.