CloudMD appoints new CEO, CFO in latest exec switchup

CloudMD

CloudMD’s new CEO was formerly the company’s president and global head.

Vancouver-based healthtech company CloudMD has appointed Karen Adams as its CEO and John Plunkett as CFO in its latest internal C-suite switchup.

Adams and Plunkett assumed their new roles after CloudMD’s founding CEO Essam Hamza and CFO Daniel Lee handed in their resignations earlier this year. Hamza remains on the board of directors, and acts as a strategic advisor to the company.

Adams was appointed to the role of interim CEO after Hamza initially stepped down, while CloudMD tapped Sean Carr as interim CFO.

In addition to being CloudMD’s latest CEO, Adams is also the president of the company, a role which she took on in July last year. She joined CloudMD in August 2020 as chief health innovation officer and global head of enterprise health solutions (EHS).

Duncan Hannay, independent director of CloudMD, said that Adams will focus on developing a “value-based cultural leadership approach with a hyper-focus on operational integration, cost optimization, and new client wins.”

“Adams has been instrumental in establishing the company’s core EHS division, executing on its innovation roadmap and developing the Kii Personalized & Connected Care offering,” Hannay added.

Prior to CloudMD, Adams was the president of Cira Health Solutions, a provider of independent medical evaluations and health-related services. In 2021, Ducore acquired the Québec operations of Cira for an undisclosed amount.

With over two decades leading firms across Canada and the United States, Adams was also the senior vice president of business development and marketing at employee wellness platform provider Shepell.fgi and the vice president of business development at Boston-based management consulting company AchieveForum.

Adams noted that CloudMD has experienced “tremendous growth” over the past 18 months through numerous acquisitions, which includes eyewear platform VisionPros. Under her leadership, the company will now turn its attention to “rationalizing and operationalizing these assets.”

Adams added that she and Plunkett will work closely with the company’s North American team to create a sustainable growth platform. As part of transformation, Plunkett will lead the integration of finance and accounting systems, and implement strong financial controls for optimization.

RELATED: TSXV-listed CloudMD to acquire TSX-listed MindBeacon in $116 million deal

Plunkett was previously CloudMD’s executive vice president of transformation and strategic planning. He also held the position of CFO at MindBeacon before it was acquired by CloudMD in a deal valued at approximately $116 million CAD, earlier this year.

According to CloudMD, Plunkett was responsible for overseeing the integration of MindBeacon and worked with MindBeacon’s leadership team to generate over $7.5 million in annualized cost savings “synergies” in 2022.

Bringing over 15 years of experience in financial management, Plunkett has a background in strategic financial planning, M&As, business integrations, controllership, and corporate accounting. He led MindBeacon’s IPO in 2020.

Plunkett has also held senior management and operating division leadership roles in other publicly traded corporations, including LifeWorks and D+H.

Hannay noted that over the last three months, Plunkett has supported Adams in developing CloudMD’s strategic plan and performing an enterprise-wide review focused on cost and operating synergies.

Founded in 2013, CloudMD is a TSX Venture Exchange-listed company that provides a platform for healthcare to be delivered through a variety of means, including hybrid primary care clinics, specialist care, telemedicine, mental health support, healthcare navigation, educational resources, and artificial intelligence (AI).

CloudMD claims to serve a direct ecosystem of over 5,700 clinicians comprising more than 1,800 mental health practitioners, 1,600 allied health professionals, 1,400 doctors and nurses, covering 12 million people across North America.

The healthtech company reported mixed results in its second quarter earnings report this year. CloudMD reported a revenue of $41.4 million CAD, which is a hefty increase compared to the $8.8 million it reported in the same period last year.

In contrast, CloudMD’s gross profit margin saw a steep decrease this year, which is 32.5 percent compared to 40.9 percent in Q1 2021. The company attributed this decline to revenue mix in the periods, citing its online vision care platform and patient support programs are lower-margin businesses and were not in the comparative period.

CloudMD also reported a net loss of $5.6 million CAD for the first quarter this year, which is a slight increase from its $5.3 million CAD loss last year. The year-over-year increase in net loss was primarily due to additional expenses to support the company’s growth strategy, including acquisition integration costs, according to CloudMD.

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Author: George Holt