Flywheel Exchange Inc., a Minneapolis-based company that helps physicians and medical researchers manage imaging data, selected health care technology veteran Hooman Hakami as interim CEO after its former CEO and board member stepped down in April.
Jim Olson had served as Flywheel's CEO since 2018.
Hakami will serve as interim CEO, effective immediately, according to a statement from the company. He will serve until a long-term CEO is hired and successfully onboarded. The company is currently conducting an extensive search for a long-term CEO.
Hakami has more than 30 years of business leadership experience in health care. Prior to Flywheel, Hakami co-founded Forte Health Advisors and served in executive business roles at GE HealthCare and Medtronic.
GE HealthCare (Nasdaq: GEHC) is a medical equipment company based in Chicago but has major product development and production operations in the Milwaukee area, where it has over 5,000 employees.
Hakami had been president and CEO of GE HealthCare’s detection and guidance solutions unit, which at the time he left for Medtronic in 2014 was an over $3 billion global business making X-ray and mammography systems and other medical equipment. He left to become executive vice president of Medtronic's Diabetes Group.
"I have no doubt that Flywheel can continue to scale and be at the forefront of data management and AI across the global Healthcare landscape," Hooman said in a statement. "I look forward to working with the team and the board, to support the company and its customers during this period of transition."
Last year, the company closed a $54 million D Series funding round with some of AI technology's biggest names, including Novalis LifeSciences and Nventures, the venture capital arm of AI pioneer Nvidia Corp, Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett Packard. Gundersen Health System of La Crosse also participated in the funding round.
"Not an easy decision, but I am stepping down as Flywheel CEO to allow a new experienced leader to drive Flywheel's next phase of growth," Olson said in a statement last month. "It has been a great honor to lead Flywheel to this point, and I am extremely proud of what the talented Flywheel team has accomplished."
David Schuyler of the Milwaukee Business Journal contributed to this article.
