Cross Country Healthcare Inc. (NASD: CCRN) named Kevin Clark as president and CEO, effective Jan. 16. Clark co-founded Cross Country in 1986 and was chairman and CEO until 1994. He takes over from William Grubbs, who had announced his intention to retire back in September. Clark will also join the company’s board.

After leaving Cross Country, Clark had re-entered the healthcare staffing industry in 2002 to co-found healthcare staffing firm Onward Healthcare. He also led Medefis and Locum Leaders — Locum Leaders was an Alpharetta, Ga.-based locum tenens provider; Medefis was a provider of a SaaS-based vendor management system for healthcare facilities. All three were acquired by AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (NYSE: AHS) for a total price of $82.5 million in 2015.

Clark also built and led other staffing, marketing and technology companies including Talivity, Pinnacor (formerly Screaming Media Inc.) and Poppe Tyson (now a subsidiary of Digitas). While at Pinnacor, he led its IPO in 2000, and it was later sold to Dow Jones & Co.

“Having been in healthcare staffing for almost three decades, I have founded and led companies through the evolution of staffing solutions,” Clark said. “I look forward to incorporating additional technology applications across Cross Country’s service offerings and delivering value for shareholders.”

Cross Country ranks on SIA’s 2018 list of largest healthcare staffing firms in the US.