Executive Search Success Story: Deploying an Interim Chief AI Officer to Protect a Stalled AI Program at a Fort Lauderdale Healthcare Services Company

How JRG Partners executed a rapid, confidential interim Chief AI Officer search that gave a Fort Lauderdale multi-site healthcare services company immediate executive AI leadership after an unexpected departure, protected a board-approved AI program mid-flight, and bridged the organization to a successful permanent appointment.

The Challenge

A Fort Lauderdale healthcare services company operating clinics across South Florida was midway through a board-approved AI program covering patient scheduling, clinical documentation, and revenue cycle automation when its Chief AI Officer resigned with two weeks’ notice to join a national health system. Vendor contracts, a compliance review, and a budget cycle were all in motion. Executive leadership identified several critical vulnerabilities threatening the program and the organization:

• A $4M AI program with active vendor implementations and no executive owner
• A pending HIPAA and model governance review scheduled within 30 days
• A data science and engineering team of fourteen at risk of attrition without leadership
• Board and physician leadership confidence in the AI program rapidly eroding
• A permanent Chief AI Officer search expected to take four to six months
• No internal executive with the expertise to step in, even temporarily

Recognizing that a traditional search timeline would leave the program exposed, the CEO engaged JRG Partners to place an interim Chief AI Officer immediately, stabilize the program, and lead a parallel permanent search. The company required a search partner with a ready bench of proven interim AI executives and the ability to deploy leadership in days rather than months.

Why They Chose JRG Partners

Interim and Fractional AI Leadership Bench

JRG Partners maintains an established network of experienced interim and fractional Chief AI Officers who have led AI functions in regulated industries and are available for rapid deployment across Florida and the Southeast.

Healthcare Executive Search Expertise

With extensive experience recruiting healthcare, medical device, and health-technology leadership, JRG Partners understood the clinical, compliance, and operational context the interim executive would need to navigate from day one.

Interim-to-Permanent Continuity

Our firm manages interim placements and permanent searches as a single, coordinated engagement, ensuring the interim executive stabilizes the organization while the permanent search proceeds without disruption.

Our Executive Search Strategy

Phase 1 — Rapid Needs Assessment

Within 48 hours of engagement, our consultants partnered directly with the CEO, CFO, and Chief Medical Officer to define the interim mandate: protect the vendor implementations, pass the governance review, retain the team, and prepare the organization for a permanent leader.

Phase 2 — Interim Candidate Identification

Our team screened over 90 interim and fractional AI executives from our network, prioritizing leaders with healthcare AI experience, HIPAA and model governance expertise, and a track record of stabilizing teams during leadership transitions. Three candidates were presented within five days.

Phase 3 — Interim Selection & Deployment

The selected executive completed accelerated interviews with the executive team and physician leadership and was on site in Fort Lauderdale within 14 days of engagement, with a 30-60-90 day stabilization plan agreed before arrival.

Phase 4 — Permanent Search & Handover

In parallel, our research team mapped over 260 permanent Chief AI Officer candidates nationally. The interim executive contributed to the role specification and finalist evaluation, and led a structured four-week handover to the permanent appointee.

Key Outcomes

• Interim Chief AI Officer deployed on site within 14 days of engagement.
• 90+ interim AI executives screened and 260+ permanent candidates mapped in a coordinated dual-track search.
• Protected a $4M board-approved AI program with no schedule or budget impact.
• Passed a critical compliance and model governance review during the leadership transition.
• Retained the entire AI team through a period of significant uncertainty.
• Delivered a seamless interim-to-permanent handover with continuity of strategy and vendor relationships.