UnitedHealth Group Shakes Up Top Executives

The nation’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealth Group, announced changes Wednesday to its lineup of top executives, including the departure of Executive Vice President Gail Boudreaux.

Boudreaux, 54, led the Minnetonka, Minn., company’s UnitedHealthcare division for health insurance, and successfully achieved growth and performance goals set upon her arrival in 2008, the company said in a statement.

“We are deeply grateful for Gail’s many contributions to our enterprise, her executive leadership, the focus she brought to local health care markets, building our culture and fostering innovation, as well as for her fellowship and counsel,” said Stephen Hemsley, the CEO at UnitedHealth Group, in a statement.

Responsibility for the UnitedHealthcare division passes to David Wichmann, 52, who becomes President of UnitedHealth Group. Wichmann will transition out of his current job of CFO over the next year to 18 months.

Larry C. Renfro, 60, will remain CEO of the company’s Optum division, while also becoming Vice Chairman of UnitedHealth Group, with responsibility for strategic and key client relationships.

Renfro, Wichmann and two other company executives will be part of a newly formed Office of the Chief Executive, and will continue to report to Hemsley. Dirk McMahon, the current Chief Operating Officer at Optum, becomes Executive Vice President for Enterprise Operations at UnitedHealth Group, and will report to Wichmann.

In a statement, Hemsley said of the executive changes: “We are bringing forward the next generation of leaders to work together, over the next five years, to continue diversifying our offerings, advancing our industry-leading technology and data services, elevating our service levels, deepening our collaboration with customers, governments and care providers and innovating around consumers and next stage care provision.”

This article appeared in print in the November 13th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.