Marconi Medical management shuffle continues

The last six months have seen numerous changes at Marconi Medical Systems (formerly Picker International). Since CEO Fred Parks joined the company in that role last September, the company has changed names, announced its intention to broaden its reach into health information systems, and made several key personnel changes (SCAN 3/15/00, 2/2/00, 1/12/00, 9/29/99).

Most recently, Picker Medical Systems president Timothy Hansen and medical director Tim Cramer have left the company altogether, and long-time CFO Kris Bhasin has retired. Their departures follow several recently announced management shifts, including the promotion of Richard Hullihen to vice president and general manager of radiology information services; the promotion of Karl Wolcott to vice president and general manager of Picker Health Care Products; and the promotion of Jerry Cirino to executive vice president of global sales and service for Marconi Medical.

Marconi Medical attributes most of these changes to the presence and vision of the new chief executive, who took over after former president and CEO Cary Nolan retired last year (SCAN 4/14/99), and to the “housecleaning” that often occurs when a new manager steps in.

“When a new CEO comes on board, he is going to make changes,” said Rob Spademan, director of public relations and communications for Marconi Medical. “Fred came in with a charter to continue to grow the company and take it into some new areas, and he plans to make some changes.”

But sources report that all is not rosy at the Cleveland-based company. Hansen, who had been with Marconi/Picker for 17 years, was apparently upset about being passed over as CEO and was reportedly escorted out of the building last December.

Cramer, who had been with the company three years, was head of the image management group, manager of corporate connectivity, and medical director. Two sources, who did not want to be identified, said Cramer was so frustrated with the recent management changes and other internal restructuring efforts that he left last month without giving notice to go back into private radiology practice.

Marconi has downplayed the departures of both Hansen and Cramer, and will not comment on either.

The company is more forthcoming about its strategic plans, however, which include focusing on integrated imaging and information systems that offer a broader range of clinical applications. Marconi Medical has created a new radiology information services business, which is being headed up by Hullihen. In addition, like most major modality and PACS vendors these days, the company is looking at application service provider models and e-commerce as other potential product-development avenues.

“Our parent company (Marconi) believes medical has a very bright future, and they’re looking at a lot of Internet stuff, telecommunications stuff, and applications,” Spademan said. “This business is all about managing information, and we want to become a company that manages diagnostic information.”