Denver-based Healthgrades has named Scott Booker CEO and a member of the board of directors.
Mr. Booker succeeds Roger Holstein, who will now serve as vice chairman of the Healthgrades board and return to Vestar Capital Partners, the private equity firm that is the majority stakeholder of Healthgrades, as managing director.
Mr. Booker has worked at at several e-commerce and consumer businesses, including Expedia, social entrepreneur retailer Stella & Dot, Accenture and Citigroup. Most recently, he served as president of Hotels.com Worldwide, where he managed 2,500 employees across the $6.5 billion enterprise.
"The choice of Scott as the new CEO was really predicated upon the lesson learned that healthcare is moving to a marketplace style of business," says Mr. Holstein. "If you look at travel, hospitality, financial and real estate services, all of these have moved to a marketplace platform where the Internet connects consumers with service providers. This can be applied to healthcare — to enable health systems to grow, to engage with patients, improve patient loyalty and improve outcomes."
During his tenure at Expedia, which spanned from 2004 to 2013, Mr. Booker served in numerous roles across retail operations, customer marketing and global e-commerce. He has extensive experience working with partners to drive customer engagement, something he named as a key priority as he assumes his new role at Healthgrades.
"If you look at my background and experience, there is a common thread from beginning to end," says Mr. Booker. "That is working with complex partner relationships to identify consumers, use their information to help build relationships with them and cultivate loyalty."
He notes this is particularly pertinent in the hospitality industry, and when married to digital marketing and Internet marketplaces, consumers can access businesses at various touchpoints: desktop, mobile, tablets and other modes. "My real objective here is to utilize my experience and couple that with the deep understanding of the Healthgrades team's healthcare market and continue to grow the company to the next level."
Mr. Booker outlined three key objectives for his first year at the helm. On the consumer side, he will guide Healthgrades to continue to provide the most compelling content, information and tools to support prospective patients in their research on physicians and hospitals. Mr. Booker said he would then like to support Healthgrades' healthcare partners by helping them develop digital brands and distribution strategies, as well as connect with consumers and build upon ongoing loyalty. Finally, internally at Healthgrades, Mr. Booker said he is committed to creating a compelling work environment for employees and integrating learning from adjacent industries to improve the company's service for its customers and clients.
Mr. Holstein has led Healthgrades since 2012. In that time, he tripled Healthgrades' online audience and dramatically expanded its client base. Each month, Healthgrades hosts more than 30 million visitors. Of these accomplishments, Mr. Holstein says he is most proud of Healthgrades' ability to provide important, comprehensive information.
In his roles on the board of directors of Healthgrades and at Vestar, Mr. Holstein plans to actively support Mr. Booker and the Healthgrades executive team through thought leadership to support the continued growth of the company's business and the private equity firm's portfolio. Mr. Holstein, who also previously served as CEO of WebMD, says he will continue to look for ways to use digital technology to provide value to physicians, patients and payers through new investments.