Industrial internet of things leader GE has named John Flannery as its incoming CEO. Flannery is set to take over on August 1 when current CEO Jeffrey Immelt steps down. Flannery is currently president and CEO of GE Healthcare, and has written and spoken extensively on the role of the IoT in medicine.
“For a 124-year old startup like GE, it’s an exciting time when we can adapt to what the world needs,” Flannery wrote recently on LinkedIn, as part of a series entitled “The Top Ten Reasons Transformation is the New Normal for Heathcare.” Flannery sees digital technology as transformational not just for GE, but for the world. “What we are saying is not just that that digital health is the future. We are saying that digital industrial in healthcare will finally answer the age old challenge of cost, quality and access,” he wrote.
“At GE Healthcare we’ve spent a century in the medical field, working alongside hospitals in radiology and exam rooms around the world,” wrote Flannery. “We’ve seen the ebbs and flows of the industry and have brought some of the most familiar medical technologies to life – x-ray, mammography, MRI. We look at how digital and industrial, software and hardware, machines and learning, are all combining and we know this is the real deal. This is the new normal.”
GE recently announced plans to hire 5.000 software engineers and move hundreds of current GE Healthcare employees from a Barrington, IL facility into downtown Chicago. Flannery, who also offices in Chicago, said the city offers GE the opportunity to partner with leading healthcare institutions and thought leaders.
Flannery ha said GE Healthcare is focused on developing its own cloud-based applications for healthcare providers, and has compared GE Healthcare’s cloud to iTunes for the healthcare industry.
