New Zealand-based Health IT provider Orion Health has announced that its CEO is stepping down after 30 years to "focus on his health".

Ian McCrae is set to be replaced by newly appointed CEO Brad Porter in late August. McCrae will still serve as the company's executive director, focusing on products. 

"He has decided the time is right to step back to focus on his health and set in motion this next phase of the business, after 30 years as CEO," a press statement read.

Porter, his son-in-law, is the General Manager-Commercial (International Sales) at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, a medical device company in Auckland.

Prior to this, he was offering advisory services at Kinetic Partners in the United Kingdom. He had held an investment monitoring role at Coller Capital after moving from KPMG.

"As my son-in-law, we have grown to understand each other and Brad knows what makes Orion Health tick and he has helped me to develop our strategy for the future… He brings a wealth of experience in global sales while closely aligning top local research and development – a perfect match for what we do at Orion Health," McCrae said about Porter's appointment.

Porter's first business agenda is visiting Orion Health’s global network of offices to get "a clear understanding of the intricacies of the business". 

THE LARGER TREND

Orion Health recently bagged a contract to build what could be the biggest health information exchange system in the world for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The system will provide a single view of health information of over 32 million people at launch, with a capacity to cover more than 50 million people. 

The company is also currently in talks to close another major contract in North America.