UNH UnitedHealth Group Inc

   By Austen Hufford 
 

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) said the leader of Optum, its health-services unit, is leaving that role to run its expanding health-services venture capital arm.

The company said that Vice Chair Larry Renfro, who is also chief executive of Optum, will lead the company's enterprise growth efforts and Optum's investment initiatives.

Andrew Witty, who was chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) until last year and is on UnitedHealth's board, will become the new CEO of Optum.

UnitedHealth Group, which announced a $250 million venture fund focused on investing in companies whose innovations will help advance the health care system in November, announced an additional $100 million Global Fund on Tuesday, focused on emerging and advanced technology, data analytics and health care services companies.

The Wall Street Journal reported recently that hospitals have been increasingly reinventing themselves as venture capitalists and investing in health-care technologies.

Write to Austen Hufford at Austen.Hufford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 13, 2018 08:51 ET (12:51 GMT)

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