Earlier this week, the Board of Directors of TeraRecon has decided to take a new direction, releasing longtime President Robert Taylor, Ph.D., according to several of my sources with a few of Tera's larger customers.
Dr. Taylor's bio on the TeraRecon site has been purged, but here is the cached version:
Robert Taylor, Ph.D. President and Chief Executive OfficerChairman Dr. Taylor joined TeraRecon in February 2001 with the responsibility for creating and developing the Company’s advanced visualization business in the global market. He received both his B.Sc. (1990) and his Ph.D. (1996) in physics from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, England. From 1999 to 2001, Dr. Taylor served as chief executive officer and director of publicly-traded AccuImage Diagnostics Corp., which was later acquired by Merge Healthcare, Inc. Dr. Taylor currently serves as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TeraRecon, Inc. He has over 15 years of experience with advanced software and technology development and commercialization in a broad range of settings, from advanced clinical applications to distributed healthcare systems.I'm rather in shock over this...I've met Dr. Taylor on several occasions, and I'm quite convinced his leadership helped make the product line what it is today. As you probably know, we chose TeraRecon over a number of other advanced-imaging vendors after a side-by-side comparison. We have been very pleased with our choice. It integrates quite well with our Agfa PACS, and it is user friendly. Of course, there has been a learning curve as you would expect with a tool this powerful. Eventually, I'll get around to publishing some of the spectacular images my partners are producing daily.
Such is life in big companies, I guess. I haven't heard directly from Dr. Taylor as yet, but I'm sure he will land on his feet and find another pursuit worthy of his attention. I'll be glad to supply a letter of reference.
No word at this point as to Dr. Taylor's successor.
11 comments :
I was in senior mgt at TR. If this blog weren't moderated, you would have scores of people who have worked with him writing in, and their language would be shocking. During my entire professional life, I have NEVER met anyone who was as mean-spirited as "Dr. Taylor." I keep this PG-13, but as soon as I heard the news, I went to youtube and played a certain clip from the Wizard of Oz that starts with "Ding, Dong, the Wicked...:
My sincere apologies for remaining anonymous here.
In response to the sour grapes post about Dr. Taylor, I'd say I still work at TeraRecon in a senior line position and was as shocked and disappointed as many of the other current employees that I have talked to. Their feelings all supported Dr. Taylor's vision and efforts over the many years he sweated blood for this company.
In the support he gave to our efforts, in the clarity of his understanding about this vast successful enterprise he managed, Robert Taylor is unequaled.
Of course those that disagreed in some form or another that are no longer there will express themselves as though they were shut down and the King is now dead and why not kick him while he's down. I'm sorry but this is ridiculous.
Robert Taylor is the Tiger Woods of this industry and as such everyone wanted his time and energy to be given to THEM. Bandwidth is short in this life.
His emails at 3am were famous, usually well thought out and succinct.
You have to be thoughtful & prepared in a professional organization such as ours and those that weren't were usually informed quickly that their efforts needed to be more focused.
I have always had a good back and forth in my discussions with Robert and I always tried to give as good as I got and I did. Hence I was supported. Not always but appropriately and effectively when the discussion made sense.
When I first started w/TR yo those many years ago, one of my senior Physicians, Vice Chair at a Major University said that Robert Taylors presentations and discussion were the most professional and articular he had ever experienced. They have purchased and established TeraRecon as a standard of care
So say Cleveland & Mayo Clinics, Duke, Stanford and more than you can count worldwide.
Robert Taylor will be sorely missed by a vast majority of this company.
We will go forward because of his efforts with our Brain Trust whole & a clear forward path. Our teams are in place from R&D, Service, Sales & In-House Management at our current O levels.
I have to thank Robert Taylor PhD, & TeraRecon for the opportunity to be engaged with what I consider Magic Medicine.
In business and in life you can't guard against being shot at from a dark alley.
It is the measure of who we are in how we react afterwards.
Robert Taylor will be a wonderful addition to what ever company is lucky enough to snatch him up in this aftermath.
TeraRecon will go forward with the success that we have exhibited over the years staying well ahead of our competitors.
Thank you Dr. Dhali for your kind words about our company.
Wow.
Regardless of your feelings about Dr. Taylor, you have to acknowledge his expertise, dedication, and personal responsibility for the success of TeraRecon.
Robert Taylor is one of the only CEO’s I’ve seen actually function as the CEO: He had all the answers, all the time, for anyone and everyone. And he worked tirelessly for that company to make it what it is today.
Right or wrong, he had the answers. And he was very, very rarely wrong….he was the driving force behind TeraRecon, the last independent imaging company left standing….and his legacy speaks for itself.
Last night I read the first comment, and ever since I have been asking myself what kind of person kicks a man while he's down and demeans his character-- shrouding his/her own identity while at the same time tearing down the identity of another?
And then, the answer came to me.
There is a word in the English language which we dislike using because it implies a sort of moral superiority of the one who uses it (i.e. me). However, in this case, that word appears to have answered my question (what kind of person writes such a thing?), and that word is COWARD.
Mean-spirited you say? It seems to me that you should take a look in the mirror, for you have provided an excellent example of what it means to be mean-spirited; a mean-spirited coward.
Signed,
TF
TF, I concur. As a person who has worked for Dr. Taylor at 2 companies spanning about 13 years I am still shocked...The eclectic gray matter at TeraRecon likely will prevail with some leadership. I hope...
-S
This ladies and gentleman is a brutal industry. Markets we have become so familiar with are dissolving before our eyes. Shareholders and boards that hold onto unrealistic expectations about the future, and don't have the guts to make the changes to their direction will die.
I suspect Dr. Taylor was a victim of this mentality.
Robert Taylor recruited me ten years ago yet I am not even close to having the most tenure in the company. Our turnover rate is practically non-existent. What does that tell you?
To compete on the level that we as a company compete you must have a leader that is 100% dedicated to succeeding twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Robert was that CEO.
His motivation certainly brought out the best in the team and kept the competition on their toes while challenging me to be who I am in the business today.
Robert Taylor WOULD be a strategic addition to any company looking to move to the next level.
We continue to to grow the business as we dominate the industry as the world leader in advanced visualization and informatics.
Regards,
RN
I'm one of the many current TeraRecon employees still shocked for this unexpected change.
I've been working with Robert Taylor for almost 10 years, he is a great CEO and what TeraRecon is today is just the evidence of his managerial capabilities, strategic vision, incredible ability to let a Company evolves in a critical economy such as the one we've faced these years.
But Robert was more than our CEO, he was one of the best colleagues, always available for everybody, able to answer any kind of questions, a person you could rely on.
We built this successful story together with him, we'll surely keep on fighting to have the story lasting in the future as well.
BM
Over the course of roughly 5 years I worked with Robert at a very large install, Robert was always, always, always on top of things. I don't know about the sour grapes at the beginning of this thread but sometimes he had to herd some of his employees because they were NOT on top of things whereas he always was. Robert pushed hard but that's how things got done and moved forward. If he was half as dedicated to his other customers as he was to us then he was still excellent. Robert -- Looking forward to seeing you in Chiang Mai some day. Drop me a note and I'll get you contact information.
Well, this “drop” would not happen if business is fine; apparently this event indicates that it is not the case and it does not depend on personal opinions about the men; the personality is not very relevant as soon as business works. The “shock” expressed by some posters above just confirms that posters have an inadequate judgment, the person who knows the facts behind can not be “surprised”; in fact, it differentiates informed and uninformed people. I'm definitely not surprised by the reaction of first poster and not surprised by the following comments; it fits nicely what I know about the men... I wish him a good luck...
Well, this “drop” would not happen if business is fine; apparently this event indicates that it is not the case and it does not depend on personal opinions about the men; the personality is not very relevant as soon as business works. The “shock” expressed by some posters above just confirms that posters have an inadequate judgment, the person who knows the facts behind can not be “surprised”; in fact, it differentiates informed and uninformed people. I'm definitely not surprised by the reaction of first poster and not surprised by the following comments; it fits nicely what I know about the men... I wish him a good luck...
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