Neal L. Patterson
Chairman and CEO|Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Cerner Corporation
Biography
Neal Patterson is Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder of Cerner. Neal began his professional career as an Information System consultant with Arthur Andersen & Co.
In late 1979, he and two Arthur Andersen colleagues, Cliff Illig and Paul Gorup, formed Cerner. As CEO, Neal has spearheaded more than a quarter century of Cerner’s growth, from its inception to its current position as the largest stand-alone health care information technology company.
His commitment to transforming health care through information technology creates value for health systems and their communities by reducing health care costs, increasing efficiencies, and enabling improvements in health care quality and patient safety.
Neal has been named as one of Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare” five times. He serves as a trustee of the Midwest Research Institute and is active in health care leadership networks and entrepreneurial organizations. Neal is Co-Founder and serves on the executive board of the First Hand Foundation (www.firsthandfoundation.org), Cerner’s non-profit foundation that provides financial assistance to children with critical health care needs. Neal also serves as Chairman of the Board of Governors for the 109-year-old American Royal.