NMC Health Plc revised Management structure for the group and reporting to Mr. Prasanth Manghat, Chief Executive Officer, is as follows: Prashanth Shenoy is promoted to the position of CFO with effect from 1 September 2017. Prashanth joined the Group in 2016 and has been Deputy CFO and an integral member of the Group's M&A and projects team. He has played an instrumental role in NMC's acquisition of Al Zahra Hospital, fund raising and equity placing and closely involved with NMC's strategic entry into the Saudi Arabian market. Prashanth has 16 years of experience, predominantly in pharmaceutical and healthcare businesses, with significant international exposure. Suresh Krishnamoorthy is stepping down from his position as CFO for personal family reasons and will be taking sabbatical leave from the Group. When he returns following this period of leave, Suresh will take up a new Group role focusing on strategic financial initiatives. Hani Buttikhi was appointed an Executive Director of the Company on 28 June 2017 in the role of Chief Investment Officer. In addition to assisting the CEO in relation to Group Strategy, Mr. Buttikhi takes responsibility for the M&A, Corporate Development and Investor Relations functions which previously reported to the Deputy CEO. Asjad Yahya, who is managing their Investor Relations activity, will report to Mr. Buttikhi. Michael Davis is COO, Healthcare with responsibility for all Healthcare operations of the Group. Michael previously reported to the Deputy CEO as CEO of ProVita, joining the Group as part of the acquisition of that business in August 2015. Michael has over 30 years of experience within large acute and post-acute listed hospital businesses in the US and has been living and working in the UAE since 2013. Both the existing positions of Group Medical Director and Chief Operating Officer, Distribution, will continue to report to the CEO. Roy Cherry, who was previously responsible for Investor Relations and certain other investment functions, remains on extended leave to continue recovery from his illness.
In addition to the above, three new positions for growth have been created reporting directly to the CEO: The retention of their excellent staff has always been a high priority for NMC Healthcare. Given the significant growth of the Group in recent years, this new position focussing on Group-wide employee initiatives has been created to ensure that the enlarged Group continues to be well placed to retain highly motivated and trained staff across its various corporate and operating businesses. The IVF business vertical has become a material business for the Group and together the Fakih IVF and Clinica Eugin businesses are one of the providers of IVF treatments in the World. Given the scale and distinct nature of this business vertical, a new position of Head of IVF has been created taking day to day corporate responsibility for management of these businesses. Following the commencement of operations in Saudi Arabia announced in December 2016, this new role has been created to take specific responsibility for managing the Group's day to day activities in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a significant and strategically important market in the Middle East, and is seen as a key future market for growth for the Group.