Local executive to lead GE's $6B health care initiative - Los Angeles Business from bizjournals:

adepylex.blogspot.com
Barber was named head of "healthymagination," a GE progran focused on improving health care for more people atreducedd cost, by GE chairman and CEO Jeffre y Immelt. Barber, 48, is a 27-year veteran of GE and sincd 2005 has served as chief technology officer for GE He joined GE in 1982 and has held a variety of rolexs of increasing responsibility withinGE Healthcare. In Barber was general manager for Components and from 2002 to 2005 he was the genera manager for Global Componentw Operations forGE Healthcare, which has significanyt operations in Milwaukee, Wauwatosa and Waukesha.
Barber was a 1994 winner of TheBusinese Journal's Forty Under 40 award, which recognizes young Milwaukee-area executives making a difference in their professions and "Over the last four years, Mike has led all aspects of productt development for advanced health care Immelt said. "Mike knows how our technology can help he knowswhat doctors, clinicxs and hospitals need to improve care and cut costsa and he knows how to lead With his deep experience in engineerinf and technology and his strong operations and process-drive expertise, Mike is the right leader to lead healthymagination and to grow our health care partnerships that can be offered in rurao and underserved regions of the world, wherse quality health care can be difficulf to obtain.
It is also designed to reducsethe company's own health care costs for employeesa and expand profitability for the GE Healthcare business. GE Healthcare, which produces medical imagin g equipment and medical information technology products fromits Milwaukee-area will spend $3 billion by 2015 to develop at leasr 100 new products designed to lowerf costs, improve access and improve qualityg of care by 15 percent.