Furst Group Assists Medica in CTO Search

August 24, 2020 – Executive search firm Furst Group, which serves the healthcare and insurance industries, has placed Dan Abdul as senor vice president and chief technology officer at Medica, a non-profit health plan headquartered in Minnetonka, MN.

“Dan brings to Medica proven IT leadership with a strong emphasis on making decisions based on data and analytics,” said Rob Geyer, senior vice president and chief operations officer of Medica. “His experience and knowledge will help Medica deliver an exceptional technology experience for our members and other stakeholders.”

Before joining Medica, Mr. Abdul served as SVP, CTO, data and analytics at Optum. He also has been the chief information officer at UCare and the Minnesota Department of Veteran Affairs. Mr. Abdul currently serves on the boards of directors at Ecumen, a non-profit senior housing and services organization, and Mental Health Connect, a Minneapolis-based non-profit that works to expand access to mental health services. In addition, he served for seven years in the Minnesota Army National Guard as a squad leader and flight medic.

In his role at Medica, Mr. Abdul will ensure the organization makes sound technology decisions and benefits from its investments in information technology systems. His responsibilities will include advancing technologies, establishing a robust enterprise architecture model, and overseeing all IT-related infrastructure, security, development and delivery.

Medica provides healthcare coverage and related services in the employer, individual, Medicaid and Medicare markets. It operates in Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Medica’s vision is “to be trusted in the community for our unwavering commitment to high quality, affordable healthcare.”

Healthcare Recruiting

Furst Group, which is headquartered in Rockford, IL, partners with many of the premier healthcare organizations in the world, from providers and payers to life-science companies and private equity/venture capital firms. While Furst Group’s roots are in managed care, the firm continues to be one of the nation’s leading executive search partners to health systems, hospitals, academic medical centers, post-acute and hospice and palliative care facilities. Its works with insurers stretches back to the HMO era, yet the firm also teams with life science, pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

Furst Group also has offices in Phoenix, AZ; Radnor, PA; San Francisco; Brentwood, TN; Chicago; Irving, TX; Minneapolis, MN; Seattle; St. Louis; and Washington, D.C.

Recruiting CTOs

An assortment of executive search firms has placed CTOs in recent months. Here’s a look at a few from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

San Diego, CA-headquartered Bespoke Partners has assisted in the placement of Linda Buan as CTO of Clearlake Capital Group-backed Provation. “Linda has a proven track record of high retention within her team and makes an effort to focus on developing their soft skills while putting an emphasis on mentoring and career pathing,” said Kristie Nova, CEO of Bespoke Partners. “She’s a transparent and collaborative leader who understands each team member as an individual and appreciates them.

ChampionScott Partners, which specializes in senior-level appointments for technology and technology-enabled companies, recently assisted in the placement of Corey Bodzin as CTO of deepwatch. Mr. Bodzin is a proven leader with over 25 years of experience in building teams, solutions and products in the cybersecurity industry. He most recently served as head of product for ExtraHop.

Golden, CO-based Human Resource Solutions placed Tony Thakur as chief technology officer for Great Plains Communications, Nebraska’s largest independent telecommunications company and a Grain Management portfolio company. The search was led by R. Woody Daroca. “It was important for me to understand and honor Tony’s respect and concern for his then current employer,” said Mr. Daroca. “Tony wanted to time his resignation so that when he resigned he would have a plan in place to aid in his transition and thereby not burn a bridge.”

London-based Wilton & Bain recruited Dale Kirkwood as chief technology officer of Community Fibre, a gigabit broadband U.K. internet service provider with a vision to deliver full fiber coverage to 500,000 homes in London. Jay Siddiki and Daniel Harrison, both principals within the global telecoms, media and technology functions at Wilton & Bain, led the search. Mr. Kirkwood has a strong background in sales and field staff environments having worked as global director of IT for the sustainability consultancy ERM Group.