Doctor Care Anywhere Group has appointed its second interim CEO in the space of six months.
In a statement the healthcare provider revealed it is welcoming back former chief financial officer Ben Kent (pictured) to the role of interim CEO.
Kent succeeds Mark Taylor, who has stepped down as interim CEO due to ill health.
Taylor only suceeded Dr Bayju Thakar in August when Thakar stepped down as chief executive officer and from the company’s board.
Kent has worked in the health sector for the past 18 years, in the UK and internationally, for Bupa and Simplyhealth.
He was chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Doctor Care Anywhere between 2020 and 2021, working on the firm’s listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.
The firm added Kent has “extensive” experience of leading businesses in digital health, health insurance and health services, in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, and has lived and worked in the UK, Australia and North America.
At end of January, the firm announced that John Stier, the chairman of the firm’s audit and risk management committee, would be taking on the role of independent chairman, effective at the conclusion of the firm’s annual general meeting (AGM) which is set to be held on 28 March.
At the time, the firm added that having secured a debt package in December 2022, and “made solid progress towards resetting the management culture and priorities around UK execution and growth”, its “logical” next step was to move to a smaller board, fully domiciled in the UK which would facilitate a closer oversight of management, and reduced governance overheads.
In line with this, Australia-based chairman Richard Dammery, and non-executive director Vanessa Wallace, are both set to retire at the end of the 2023 AGM, while non-executive director Simon Calver will not seek re-election.
