By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
BOSTON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - NextGen Healthcare Inc NXGN.O
said on Monday it has hired healthcare information technology
veteran David Sides as its chief executive officer, three months
after his predecessor left.
Sides joins the Atlanta-headquartered developer and marketer
of healthcare information systems from Teladoc Health Inc
TDOC.N , a telemedicine and virtual healthcare company, where
he was chief operating officer and has worked since 2019. He
will start this week and will also hold the title of president.
The appointment comes as NextGen, valued at $1 billion, is
in the late stages of a bitter proxy contest where the board is
facing off against the company's founder.
Earlier in his career, Sides spent 17 years at health
information technology services supplier Cerner CERN.O where
he was senior vice president for worldwide consulting.
NextGen's board chairman Jeffrey Margolis said in a
statement that Sides was an "ideal" candidate and the company
now has a "powerhouse management team that defines what
leadership should look like: continuing stability in operations
and customer delivery, upgraded strategic industry knowledge,
and a seasoned and experienced leader as CEO."
Sides replaces Rusty Frantz, who left in late June after six
years as NextGen's CEO and president.
Sides will run for a seat on the company's board, joining
NextGen's slate of nine candidates.
Shareholders will vote on Oct. 13, electing either the
company's nominees or company founder Sheldon Razin's four
nominees. Razin, who has been a director since 1974, is not on
the company's slate of nominees.
Razin has criticized NextGen's poor financial returns. Since
January, NextGen's stock price has dropped 16.17% to close
trading at $15.29 on Friday. The NASDAQ Composite Index has
gained 16.73% during the same time.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Karishma Singh)
((svea.herbst@thomsonreuters.com; +617 856 4331; Reuters
Messaging: svea.herbst.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))