Rich Berner appointed as Vice President and General Manager for Cerner Middle East

In his new role, Berner is responsible for strategy, consulting, sales and operations for Cerner in the Middle East marketplace.

"The Middle East market is a strategic focal point for Cerner," said Trace Devanny, Cerner President. "Rich brings more than 15 years experience in technology and healthcare, and has had great success leading the roll out of healthcare technology at some of Cerner's largest and most complex clients."

Berner's previous role at Cerner was that of Vice President and General Manager for Cerner's academic and pediatric healthcare segment in the northeastern region of the United States. His team was responsible for delivering results for Cerner clients that lead the industry in their use of healthcare information technology to optimize workflow and transform patient care. His clients have received numerous industry awards and accolades for their accomplishments.

"It is an exciting time to be in healthcare in the Middle East, as the region is uniquely positioned to connect patients and healthcare providers to improve patient safety, quality and operational effectiveness," Berner said. "I look forward to building on Cerner's 15-plus year presence in the Middle East to help governments and private healthcare providers use Cerner solutions to improve the population's overall health and quality of life."

Before coming to Cerner, Berner was a partner at TechEmpower, a strategy-consulting and custom software-development company. Prior to joining TechEmpower, Berner assumed various CXO (Chief Experience Officer) roles through the complete life cycle of FreeDrive.com. Berner began his career as a software engineer at Tellabs, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and then moved on to IEC, where he led consulting engagements that improved performance and increased revenue for various Fortune 500 companies, such as Sun, Marriott, Toyota/Lexus and United Airlines.

Berner graduated as an Evans Scholar from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics.