Davenport recruited to boost Misys health arm

MISYS, the software group, has recruited Vern Davenport, the former chief operating officer of Eastman Kodak's healthcare unit, to turn around its troubled healthcare division.

In the latest of a string of sweeping executive changes at the group, Davenport will succeed Tom Skelton, who had been earmarked as a future chief executive but left Misys's health unit last month after a string of poor results.

Skelton had been part of the management buyout bid led by Kevin Lomax, the Misys founder and former CEO, which failed in September.

Half-year results for Misys's healthcare business, released last month, showed operating profits fell to 18 million in the six months to 30 November, from 23m in the same period of 2005.

The health group at Eastman Kodak was recently sold to Onex Healthcare for $2.55 billion (1.3bn).

Analysts said Davenport's move signalled how Mike Lawrie, the Misys chief executive, continues to impress his authority on the group he joined in October. Cazenove, the broker, wrote in a note: "It is clear that Mike Lawrie is building a team around him that he can trust and is stamping his personality on the company."

Lawrie is also believed to have been instrumental in bringing Eileen McPartland, a former senior executive at Oracle, to lead Misys's expansion in IT services. Next month, Guy Warren, the former chief executive of LogicaCMG UK, will join Misys to head its banking business.

Lawrie, a former vice-president of IBM, is due to deliver a long-awaited strategy presentation on Misys's future on 8 March. It has been speculated that he will put the group's Sesame division, which provides IT systems to financial advisers, up for sale.

Before joining Kodak in 2003, Davenport worked for Siemens Medical Solutions. He also worked for IBM.