Greg Garrison Named Executive Chairman; Dr.
Shih-Yin Ho Appointed Interim CEO;
Lee Westerfield Appointed Interim CFO
Veradigm Inc. (Nasdaq: MDRX) announced today that the Company’s
Board of Directors appointed current Chairman, Greg Garrison, as
Executive Chairman, and current director, Dr. Shih-Yin (“Yin”) Ho,
as interim Chief Executive Officer. In addition, Lee Westerfield,
who brings more than 25 years of experience as a senior financial
executive, most recently serving as Chief Financial Officer at
Clearsense, will be serving as Interim Chief Financial Officer.
Chief Executive Officer Richard J. Poulton has resigned at the
request of the Board from his role as CEO and has stepped down from
the Board. Also at the request of the Board, Leah S. Jones has
resigned as Chief Financial Officer and has agreed to serve in a
consulting role to provide business-development related services to
the Company. Following Mr. Garrison’s appointment as Executive
Chairman, Carol Zierhoffer was appointed as Lead Independent
Director.
These changes result from the Audit Committee’s previously
disclosed, ongoing independent investigation, which is being
conducted by legal counsel and relates to the Company’s financial
reporting and internal controls over financial reporting and
disclosure controls. The potential impact, if any, to the financial
statements for previously reported periods as a result of the
independent investigation is under review by the new leadership
team.
“Veradigm’s core business remains strong but, after careful
review and consideration, it is clear that we must develop a
stronger financial control environment with enhanced financial
reporting policies and disclosure policies and procedures, and the
leadership changes announced today reflect the importance of
accountability in achieving that goal,” said Mr. Garrison. “We are
pleased to bring in seasoned, deeply experienced executives of Yin
and Lee’s caliber. I look forward to working with them, as well as
President and Chief Commercial Officer Tom Langan, as we lead the
Company through this important transition period.”
“Having spent more than 20 years as an entrepreneur and
executive building and leading several companies in health
information technology, data analytics and decision support for
life sciences, I am excited to partner with Greg, Tom and Lee to
build on the strong platform we have at Veradigm,” said Dr. Ho.
“I’ve worked alongside Lee previously and can attest to his
strengths in financial reporting and compliance, along with his
tremendous reputation as a finance leader in life science fields
that are important growth avenues for Veradigm. In my time as
Director, I have seen firsthand Veradigm’s tremendous healthcare
technology and analytics business and am excited about the
strategic direction that the Company is pursuing. Together, we will
continue to execute this strategy and further invest in analytical
capabilities critical to meeting our clients’ growing need for high
quality data to support their delivery of great care, value and
research to patients. The Company has enormous potential to shape
the future across providers, payors and life sciences clients with
its stellar operations, scale, data analytics and expertise.
Veradigm is well positioned to achieve our mission of transforming
health in a thoughtful, insightful and innovative manner while
driving value for patients and shareholders.”
The Board of Directors has initiated a search process for a
permanent CEO and CFO. The Company intends to retain a leading
executive search firm to support the process, which will include
both internal and external candidates.
The new leadership team is reviewing the fiscal year 2023
guidance previously issued on September 18, 2023.
In addition, the Company remains committed to regaining
compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c) as soon as possible.
Unrelated to the investigation and, as previously disclosed, the
Company continues to estimate a reduction in revenue from
continuing operations of approximately $20 million in the aggregate
between the periods 2020 through the end of 2022 relating to
certain revenue recognition practices.
About Greg Garrison
Greg Garrison, who brings experience as a successful business
and operations leader, professional advisor and recognized
financial expert, was a senior leader of accounting firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PwC”) for over 20 years. Most recently,
Mr. Garrison served as PwC’s Vice Chairman and Chief Operating
Officer from 2006 until 2014. Earlier in his career, Mr. Garrison
also led PwC’s U.S. Assurance & Audit Services practice, the
Global Risk Management Solutions practice, and served as the
Managing Partner of PwC’s Los Angeles and St. Louis practices. Mr.
Garrison has experience in strategic planning, operations, finance,
audit and accounting, information technology, mergers and
acquisitions, human capital and sales and marketing. Over the
course of his career, Mr. Garrison has also spent considerable time
meeting and working with various regulators, as well as advising
numerous boards and audit committees.
About Dr. Shih-Yin Ho
Dr. Ho is a seasoned digital health, software and pharmaceutical
services entrepreneur, executive and advisor, having spent over 20
years developing products and companies in health information
technology, data analytics, and decision support for life sciences.
In addition to Veradigm, Dr. Ho also serves on the Board of
Directors for Genesis Research, a real-world evidence research
company supporting the life sciences industry. She was the Founder
and CEO of Context Matters Inc., a global life sciences market
access software company, which was acquired by Decision Resources
Group in 2017 and later combined with Clarivate PLC in 2020. Dr. Ho
was also the Co-Founder of NYC Health Business Leaders, which
recently merged into Digital Health New York. Dr. Ho has held
leadership positions at Aetion, Medidata and Pfizer. Dr. Ho began
her career as an emergency medicine physician, having received her
MD and residency training at Yale. Excited by the rising new
industry of electronic/digital health, she transitioned from
practicing medicine in mid-1998 to earn her MBA at Harvard Business
School. Dr. Ho also has a BA from Brown University. She actively
participates in several philanthropic organizations, including
serving on the board of PS3’s afterschool program (PS3til6).
About Lee Westerfield
Mr. Westerfield has held multiple Chief Financial Officer roles
in sectors undergoing dynamic change and has scaled, funded and
exited multiple software and data service-based ventures. Drawn to
healthcare data and analytics, he most recently served as Chief
Financial Officer of Clearsense, an enterprise healthcare data
analytics platform serving health providers and payors, and as the
Chief Financial Officer of Aeiton, the real-world evidence
platform. He also served as the Chief Financial Officer of
Dstillery, an advertising technology data analytics provider, and
Uphold Ltd., a financial technology platform as a service company
operating regulated money services, and he later served as Vice
Chairman of the Board of Directors at Uphold. Mr. Westerfield also
held other Chief Financial Officer positions at numerous other SaaS
companies. He began his career on Wall Street as a Senior Equity
Research Analyst specializing in Internet, Media &
Entertainment sectors. Mr. Westerfield received his BA from Yale
University and his MBA from Columbia Business School.
About Veradigm®
Veradigm is a healthcare technology company that drives value
through its unique combination of platforms, data, expertise,
connectivity, and scale. The Veradigm Network features a dynamic
community of solutions and partners providing advanced insights,
technology, and data-driven solutions for the healthcare provider,
payer, and biopharma markets. For more information about how
Veradigm is fulfilling its mission of Transforming Health,
Insightfully, visit www.veradigm.com, or find Veradigm on LinkedIn,
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
© 2023 Veradigm Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights
reserved.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited
to, statements regarding the Company’s future strategic priorities,
the Company’s beliefs and expectations relating to resuming
compliance with the Nasdaq listing rules, the financial impacts of
the misstatements relating to revenue recognition issues, and the
financial and other impacts of the items under investigation. These
forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs and
expectations of the Company’s management with respect to future
events, only speak as of the date that they are made and are
subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Such statements can
be identified by the use of words such as “future,” “anticipates,”
“believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,”
“will,” “would,” “could,” “continue,” “can,” “may,” “look forward,”
“aim,” “hopes,” and similar terms, although not all forward-looking
statements contain such words or expressions. Actual results could
differ significantly from those set forth in the forward-looking
statements.
Important factors that may cause actual results to differ
materially from those in the forward-looking statements include,
but are not limited to, a further material delay in the Company’s
financial reporting, including as a result of the leadership
changes announced today, an inability to timely prepare restated
financial statements, unanticipated factors or factors that the
Company currently believes will not cause delay, the impacts of the
investigation, including on the Company’s remediation efforts and
preparation of financial statements or other factors that could
cause additional delay or adjustments, the possibility that the
ongoing review may identify additional errors and material
weaknesses or other deficiencies in the Company’s accounting
practices, the likelihood that the control deficiencies identified
or that may be identified in the future will result in additional
material weaknesses in the Company’s internal control over
financial reporting, the possibility that the Company is unable to
regain compliance with, or thereafter continue to comply with,
Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1), or experience violations of
additional Nasdaq Listing Rules, the possibility that the Nasdaq
Hearings Panel may reach a final decision to delist the Company’s
securities and other factors contained in the “Risk Factors”
section and elsewhere in the Company’s filings with the SEC from
time to time, including, but not limited to, its Annual Report on
Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. The Company does
not undertake to update any forward-looking statements to reflect
changed assumptions, the impact of circumstances or events that may
arise after the date of the forward-looking statements, or other
changes over time, except as required by law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231208041669/en/
Investors:
investor.relations@veradigm.com
Media: Ray Joske
ray.joske@veradigm.com
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