Cliff Illig, Cerner Corporation

In the 1960's, Cliff Illig was a teenager working part-time loading punch cards into computers at this father's company.

When his Prairie Village, Kansas, high school began offering computer classes, Cliff took one of the first classes offered.

After earning a university degree in accounting and business administration, he worked for Arthur Andersen & Co., the accounting firm.

In 1979, he and two co-workers met at a park, where they developed and wrote a business plan for their vision of a new healthcare software company.

That company would become Cerner Corporation.

Later in 1979, the three left Arthur Andersen & Co., and acquired an Oklahoma hospital as their first client in 1980.

Cerner software technology automates clinical information, and digitizes medical records to support and connect healthcare providers with patient information.

Photograph © 2019 Larry F. Levenson.

All right reserved.

@CernerCorporation