Cardinal names Barrett CEO

DUBLIN, Ohio —Culminating a three-year reorganization that split the company in two, Cardinal Health has promoted George Barrett to chairman and CEO.

Barrett, 54, replaced R. Kerry Clark, who retired, as planned, upon completion of the company’s spin-off of its CareFusion division. The change was effective Aug. 31.

Since joining Cardinal early last year, Barrett has been vice chairman and CEO of the company’s Healthcare Supply Chain Services segment.

Before joining Cardinal in January 2008, Barrett garnered more than 25 years of experience in health care, most recently as president and CEO of North America for Teva Pharmaceuticals.

Under the consolidation plan, Cardinal retained its $80-billion-plus network of pharmaceutical and medical product distribution centers and nuclear pharmacies. The plan also included a tax-free spin-off of Cardinal’s clinical and medical product businesses as a separate public company, called CareFusion.

Clark, Cardinal’s outgoing top manager, drew praise from company director Richard Notebaert “for his clear vision and leadership during his tenure,” including “the repositioning of Cardinal Health to better serve our hospital and pharmacy customers.”