6551 Park of Commerce Boulevard, N.W.
Boca Raton, FL 33487
April 4, 2022
Dear Cross Country Healthcare Stockholder:
We invite you to attend the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”) of Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. (the “Company”). The Annual Meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The Annual Meeting will be a virtual only meeting held via live audio cast on the internet. You will be able to virtually attend the Annual Meeting, vote, submit your questions, and view the list of stockholders during the meeting by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/CCRN2022 and entering your 16-digit control number included in our Notice of Internet Availability of the proxy materials, on your proxy card or in the instructions that accompanied your proxy materials. As always, we encourage you to vote your shares prior to the Annual Meeting.
2021 In Review
Our 2021 financial results represented another historic milestone for the Company. Full year revenue in 2021 more than doubled from 2020 and we produced double-digit Adjusted EBITDA margin for the same period. In 2021, revenue also improved sequentially every quarter with all lines of business growing. We are fundamentally a stronger, more financially sound company with a proven ability to execute and deliver across many fronts. Our digital transformation through our build, buy and/or license strategy has been bold and has significantly improved our operating leverage. As we reimagine our go-to-market strategy to service our customers and our growing number of professionals who are increasingly embracing the gig economy, we have made investments in technology to improve the candidate journey, to magnify the return on investment from expanding our workforce, to provide ease of use, and best in class customer service. We also hired and trained more than 1,000 corporate employees during the year and improved our core processes to become more efficient and improve productivity. Throughout the pandemic, we have also led the way with our holistic workforce solutions approach and commitment to doing the right thing for our professionals, employees, customers and stockholders. We believe ethics, integrity, accountability and hard work are the foundation for all that we do to provide stockholder value.
COVID-19 (“COVID”)
2021 was another challenging year for our nation, with unprecedented demand driven in part by new COVID subvariants, the exhaustion burnout and mental health issues of healthcare professionals having served on the front-line, and the persistent shortage of core staff for many of our customers. We saw heightened demand across virtually every specialty, including those unrelated to COVID and those resulting from the turnover and shortages in core staff at our customers. In conjunction with Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, Cross Country conducted a national survey of nurses and nursing students that revealed 37% of those surveyed identify as being burned out and over worked. The survey also identified root causes of the current stressors among healthcare professionals, and we are focused on implementing programs to improve nursing satisfaction, career outlook, and mental well-being. During 2021, we continued to provide a 24/7 Hotline for our healthcare professionals, and we responded to more than 13,000 calls to our Hotline. Our team worked tirelessly to deliver exceptional results for our customers, professionals, and stockholders in 2021, and we will continue to focus on positively impacting the mental well-being of all our professionals, as well as the overall outlook for nursing satisfaction.
ESG and Sustainable Long-Term Growth
Cross Country continued its track-record of promoting sustainable growth by focusing on governance, social, and environmental matters during 2021. We have continuously maintained the ISS Highest Quality Score of “1” for governance, and expanded our environmental and social initiatives thereby improving our ISS Quality Scores for those areas to “2” and “1”, respectively. Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is unwavering as we once again in 2021 are able to share that 76% of our corporate workforce is female and 35% is composed of historically underrepresented groups. Two of our Board members (or 25%) are female and two Board members (or 25%) self-identify as a minority based on race. We also made additional investments in social initiatives, such as the sponsorship of nursing scholarships at FAU, and collaborating with the FAU Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing to conduct a national survey pertaining to employee satisfaction. Our culture, our aspirations to improve the environment and support our communities while significantly improving financial results for our stockholders, and having an overall positive impact on society is reflective of our performance and values-based culture that is in direct alignment with our business strategy.
On the following pages, you will find the Notice of Annual Meeting, which lists the matters to be considered and acted upon at the Annual Meeting, and the Proxy Statement.
Your vote is very important regardless of the number of shares you own. Detailed voting instructions begin on page
1 of the Proxy Statement. The Board of Directors unanimously recommends that you vote “FOR” Proposal Nos. 1, 2, and 3 described in the Proxy Statement.
Sincerely, | | | |
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Kevin C. Clark, Chairman | | | John A. Martins, Chief Executive Officer and President |