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MELVILLE, N.Y., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Olsten Health Services, North America's largest home health care company and a subsidiary of Olsten Corporation, today named Richard Christmas senior vice president and chief information officer.
Christmas will be responsible for directing Olsten Health Services' information management activities. As a key member of the senior management team, he will be reporting to John J. Collura, executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer. Christmas will direct the company's efforts to integrate business systems, enable productivity tools as well as promote electronic commerce for internal and external uses.
"In his new role as CIO, Rick's leadership and his experience in deploying new business systems will be invaluable as our health services organization moves toward becoming a stand-alone public company," said Edward A. Blechschmidt, president and chief executive officer of Olsten.
Christmas joined Olsten Corporation in 1992 and became area vice president, Pacific Northwest in 1995. The following year, as project manager-vice president operations, Christmas headed Olsten's $100 million business and technology re-engineering project. Since 1997, he has been senior vice president, Staffing Services Solutions for the company's health services division. Prior to joining Olsten, Christmas was director of integrated business services for Barrett Business Services. He received his BA degree from California State University.
In August, Olsten Corporation announced plans to merge its staffing and information technology services businesses with Adecco S.A. and to split off its health services business as an independent publicly held company. Last month, Olsten Health Services revealed the name of that new public company -- Gentiva Health Services. Blechschmidt will assume the roles of chairman, chief executive officer and president of the new company when the deal is completed.
Olsten Health Services is North America's largest provider of home health care and related services. A leader in specialty pharmaceutical services and nursing services solutions, the company has more than 400 locations in North America. The company also provides marketing and distribution solutions for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device firms as well as home infusion therapies, health care network management services, skilled nursing services and medical staffing solutions. In 1998, Olsten Health Services had $1.3 billion in revenue and employed approximately 70,000 associates and caregivers.
Olsten Corporation (NYSE: OLS), with 1,500 offices on three continents, is a world leader in staffing services, a significant provider of information technology services and North America's largest provider of home health care and related services. The Company operates more than 1,000 staffing offices -- providing staffing solutions and assignment employees to business, industry and government -- in North America, Latin America and Europe under Olsten Staffing Services and related brands. In 1998, Olsten Corporation achieved revenues of $4.6 billion and employed approximately 700,000 people serving approximately 600,000 client/patient accounts.
Information contained in this news release, other than historical information, should be considered forward-looking, and is subject to various risk factors and uncertainties. For instance, the Company’s strategies and operations involve risks of competition, changing market conditions, changes in laws and regulations affecting our industries and numerous other factors discussed in this release and in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements.