Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, a staunch advocate of healthcare IT, says he'll retire from active management and his role as chairman and member of the board of directors in May.
Intel made the announcement Friday.
Barrett joined Intel in 1974, served as CEO from 1998 through 2005. In recent years, Barrett has been active in Intel's World Ahead Program bringing information technology to emerging economies. He has often spoken on healthcare and technology issues as well as on education and U.S. competitiveness.
Barrett has served on the federal advisory group the American Health Information Community, which recently changed its name to the National eHealth Collaborative. He served as co-chair of the chronic care workgroup for the organization.
Testifying on healthcare before the Senate Finance Committee last June, Barrett said: "The industry needs a greater level of customer service and efficiency similar to Fed-Ex, which tracks and delivers over 6 million packages a day with 98 percent reliability,"
On the topic of home-centered care, he told the committee that an acute-care centered model of care would be unsustainable in the future.
"We are learning that consumer education combined with home computers, wireless networks, televisions and cell phones offer new ways to increase prevention, early detections and caregiver assistance," he said.
Barrett is chairman of the U.N. Global Alliance for Information and Communications Technology and Development.
Commenting Friday on his 35 year career at Intel, Barrett noted that he was fortunate to have been able to work side by side with industry legends Bob Noyce, Gordon Moore and Andy Grove.
He called Intel "one of the premier technology companies in the world."
"I have every confidence that Intel will continue this leadership under the direction of Paul Otellini and his management team," Barrett said.
Intel also announced that independent director Jane Shaw, who joined the Intel board in 1993, has been elected by the board of directors to replace Barrett as non-executive chairman beginning in May.
