Consumer electronics chain retailer Best Buy Inc. has a new executive dedicated to digital healthcare.
On Dec. 19, Best Buy appointed Asheesh Saksena as president of Best Buy Health. He will be tasked with “implementing our health strategy, with particular focus on ways to use technology and our in-home capabilities to help seniors live independently in their homes,” Best Buy says.
Best Buy promoted Saksena from within the ranks of its senior management to head healthcare. Prior to his new appointment Saksena worked as Best Best Buy’s strategic growth office. He previously served as the executive vice president of strategy and new business development at Cox Communications and as the deputy chief strategy officer for Time Warner Cable. He has also held management roles at Accenture and Tata Group.
Asheesh Saksena
He joined Best Buy in June 2016. In his new role as head of Best Buy Health he will be looking to grow Best Buy’s digital healthcare and healthcare e-commerce organically and through the retailer’s $800 million acquisition of Great Call in October.
Great Call is a San Diego provider of cell phone and related digital home healthcare services to seniors. Best Buy acquired Great Call to help the retailer provide more digital health services to the homes of seniors. Great Call estimates this to be a $9 billion market.
“Saksena leads the incubation, strategy and corporate development teams focused on health initiatives at Best Buy,” the retailer says. “That includes Great Call, a leading provider of connected health and personal emergency response services to the aging population.”
In addition to naming Saksena to head up healthcare, Best Buy also recently appointed to new members to its board of directors with healthcare backgrounds. Last month Best Buy named Cindy Kent, who most recently served as president and general manager of the Infection Prevention Division at 3M Co., and Eugene Woods, president and CEO of Atrium Health (formerly known as Carolinas HealthCare System) to the board of directors.
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