Ken Fasola
named President of Centene
Jim Murray
named Chief Operating Officer
Brent Layton
becomes Senior Advisor to the CEO
Dave Thomas
becomes Chief Executive Officer of Markets and
Medicaid
Additionally, Company appoints Alice H. Chen, MD, MPH as Chief Health Officer
and Brian LeClaire, MBA, PhD, as
Chief Information Officer
ST.
LOUIS, Dec. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene
Corporation (NYSE: CNC) announced today leadership changes and
senior management appointments to position the Company for its next
stage of growth.
"With these appointments, Centene is aligning the outstanding
talent within our senior executive team with the Company's value
creation mission and long-term strategy for growth," said Centene
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sarah
London. "Additionally, we are excited to welcome two new
leaders to our senior management team. Together, today's
appointments reinforce and accelerate Centene's longstanding
commitment to providing high-quality, low-cost healthcare to
members and increasing value to shareholders."
Ken Fasola, currently Executive
Vice President (EVP) of Health Care Enterprises, will become
President of Centene, continuing to report to Sarah London. In his role as President, Mr.
Fasola brings more than three decades of successful leadership in
the healthcare industry, including CEO roles at multiple health
insurance companies. He will be responsible for Centene's health
plans, all lines of business and core operations.
Jim Murray, currently EVP, Chief
Transformation Officer, will become EVP, Chief Operating Officer
(COO), reporting to Mr. Fasola. Equipped with deep experience in
operations spanning a career of nearly three decades, Mr. Murray
will be critical to Centene's efforts in value creation, quality,
and core business operations.
Brent Layton will become Senior
Advisor to the CEO, as he begins his transition towards retirement.
Over the next year, Mr. Layton will continue to play a pivotal role
in developing and expanding key strategic partnerships for Centene
and driving the Company's business development strategy.
Dave Thomas, currently EVP,
Markets, will become CEO of Markets and Medicaid, reporting into
Mr. Fasola. With extensive leadership and more than 20 years of
experience in the managed care industry, Mr. Thomas will take on an
expanded scope and responsibility for the Medicaid product and
business development.
The appointments of Messrs. Fasola, Murray, Layton and Thomas to
their new roles are effective today.
Additionally, the Company announced the appointment of
Alice H. Chen, MD, MPH, as Chief
Health Officer (CHO), effective January 1,
2023, and Brian LeClaire,
MBA, PhD, as Chief Information Officer (CIO), effective
December 5, 2022. Both individuals
will report to Sarah London.
As CHO, Dr. Chen will be responsible for Centene's strategies,
policies, and programs in support of improving population health
for Centene's more than 26 million members.
As CIO, Mr. LeClaire will be responsible for Centene's
information technology strategy, ensuring its alignment with the
Company's business strategy, and delivering secure, differentiated
technology-enabled experiences to members.
Relevant bios are outlined below.
Ken Fasola, President, Centene
Corporation
Ken Fasola brings more than three
decades of successful leadership in the healthcare industry, having
most recently served as Centene's Executive Vice President of
Health Care Enterprises and a member of the Office of the CEO. He
joined Centene through the acquisition of Magellan Health Inc
(MGLN) where he served as CEO and a member of the Board of
Directors. Prior to that, he was Chairman, President, and CEO of
HealthMarkets, Inc., one of the largest health insurance agencies
and supplemental insurance companies in the U.S. HealthMarkets was
acquired by UnitedHealth Group in 2019. Prior to joining
HealthMarkets, Mr. Fasola spent nearly twenty years in executive
leadership roles at UnitedHealth Group and Humana. He served as CEO
of Secure Horizons, a division of UnitedHealth Group and the
nation's largest Medicare Advantage insurer. Prior to that he
served as CEO of UnitedHealth Care's Central Region, President of
UnitedHeathcare lines of business and National Sales Officer. At
Humana Mr. Fasola was the COO of Market Operations and formerly a
member of the Office of the Chairman, a role he assumed after
thirteen years leading various divisions within the company.
Mr. Fasola holds a Bachelor of Science in Health Planning and
Administration from Pennsylvania State
University and was named an Alumni Fellow in 2010.
Jim Murray, EVP, Chief
Operating Officer, Centene Corporation
Jim Murray most recently served
as Centene's Chief Transformation Officer, where he led Centene's
Value Creation Office and its Behavior Health business and was a
member of the office of the CEO. Previously, he was President and
COO for Magellan Health where he oversaw the Magellan Behavioral
and Specialty Health and Magellan Complete Care business segments.
Prior to his roles at Magellan, Mr. Murray served as President of
PrimeWest Health, a Dallas-based
company which supports physician shift to value-based care and
Chief Executive Officer of LifeCare HealthPartners, a Dallas-based hospital system. Murray also
served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for
Humana and held other significant leadership roles over a career
spanning nearly three decades.
Mr. Murray received his bachelor's degree in accounting from the
University of Dayton and is a certified
public accountant.
Brent Layton, Senior Advisor
to CEO, Centene Corporation
Brent Layton has more than 30
years of experience with increasing responsibility in the
healthcare and public policy sectors, with particular expertise in
creating, scaling, and operating business in a highly regulated
environment. Mr. Layton most recently served as President and Chief
Operating Officer for Centene Corporation where he oversaw the
company's healthcare offerings, including 30 State Medicaid Health
plans, the nation's largest Exchange provider, Ambetter, and the
WellCare brand of Medicare products, and was a member of the Office
of the CEO. Since joining Centene in 2006, he has overseen the
development and implementation of new health plans in more than 25
states, provided strategic guidance to state governments to help
them develop effective Medicaid solutions, and developed new
business contracting with providers and health systems where he led
the company's effort in value-based purchasing.
Mr. Layton received his bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia.
David P. Thomas, CEO, Markets
and Medicaid, Centene Corporation
Dave Thomas most recently served
as Centene's Executive Vice President, Markets where he was
responsible for the oversight of Centene's 31 health plans
nationwide. Previously, he was President and CEO of Fidelis Care where he led oversight across all
divisions of Fidelis Care. Dave
joined Fidelis in 1999 as Director of Strategic Planning and
Development and held positions of increasing responsibility during
his tenure – from Vice President, Senior Vice President of
Operations, Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer,
and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer –
culminating in leading the organization.
Mr. Thomas received a bachelor's degree in Sociology from the
University at Albany and a Master of
Business Administration from the Zicklin School of Business at
Baruch College in Manhattan.
Alice H. Chen, MD, MPH, Chief
Health Officer, Centene Corporation
Prior to joining Centene, Dr. Chen was Chief Medical Officer at
Covered California, the state's health insurance marketplace, where
she was responsible for healthcare strategy focused on quality,
equity, and delivery system transformation. She previously served
as Deputy Secretary for Policy and Planning and Chief of Clinical
Affairs for the California Health and Human Services Agency, where
she led signature health policy initiatives on affordability and
access and played a leadership role in the state's response to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Chen was also a professor of medicine at the
University of California San Francisco
School of Medicine, based at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General
Hospital, where she served as its Chief Integration Officer and
founding director of the eConsult program.
Dr. Chen received a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology
from Yale University and has a Doctor
of Medicine from the Stanford
University School of Medicine. She also has a Master of
Public Health in Health Care Management and Policy from
Harvard School of Public Health. A
primary care internist by training, she provides clinical care at
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
Brian LeClaire, Chief
Information Officer, Centene Corporation
Prior to joining Centene, Brian
LeClaire was Director, Technology, for the healthcare team
at Arsenal Capital Partners, a private equity firm specializing in
investments in healthcare and industrial growth companies. At
Arsenal, he led information technology due diligence, advisory and
oversight for the firm's healthcare sector, and aided portfolio
companies in the development and delivery of their technology
strategy and value capture initiatives. Previously he served as
Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Humana,
where he spent more than two decades in various technology and
operational leadership roles. Prior to that he was a Vice President
of Product Development at Alltel, a wireless service provider
acquired by Verizon Wireless.
Mr. LeClaire received a Bachelor of the Arts in Psychology from
Ripon College; a Master of Business
Administration in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh; and a PhD in
Management Information Systems, with a minor in Computer Science,
from Oklahoma State University.
About Centene Corporation
Centene Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, is a leading
healthcare enterprise that is committed to helping people live
healthier lives. The Company takes a local approach – with local
brands and local teams – to provide fully integrated, high-quality,
and cost-effective services to government-sponsored and commercial
healthcare programs, focusing on under-insured and uninsured
individuals. Centene offers affordable and high-quality
products to nearly 1 in 15 individuals across the nation, including
Medicaid and Medicare members (including Medicare Prescription Drug
Plans) as well as individuals and families served by
the Health Insurance Marketplace, the TRICARE program, and
individuals in correctional facilities. The Company also contracts
with other healthcare and commercial organizations to provide a
variety of specialty services focused on treating the whole
person. Centene focuses on long-term growth and value
creation as well as the development of its people, systems, and
capabilities so that it can better serve its members, providers,
local communities, and government partners.
Centene uses its investor relations website to publish important
information about the Company, including information that may be
deemed material to investors. Financial and other information about
Centene is routinely posted and is accessible on Centene's investor
relations website, https://investors.centene.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements
All statements, other than statements of current or
historical fact, contained in this press release are
forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing,
forward-looking statements often use words such as "believe,"
"anticipate," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "intend," "seek,"
"target," "goal," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "can,"
"continue" and other similar words or expressions (and the negative
thereof). Centene (the Company, our, or we) intends such
forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe-harbor
provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and we are including this
statement for purposes of complying with these safe-harbor
provisions. In particular, these statements include, without
limitation, statements about our future operating or financial
performance, market opportunity, value creation strategy,
competition, expected activities in connection with completed and
future acquisitions and dispositions, our investments and the
adequacy of our available cash resources. These forward-looking
statements reflect our current views with respect to future events
and are based on numerous assumptions and assessments made by us in
light of our experience and perception of historical trends,
current conditions, business strategies, operating environments,
future developments and other factors we believe appropriate. By
their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown
risks and uncertainties and are subject to change because they
relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the
future, including economic, regulatory, competitive and other
factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels
of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different
from any future results, levels of activity, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements. These statements are not guarantees of future
performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and
assumptions. All forward-looking statements included in this press
release are based on information available to us on the date
hereof. Except as may be otherwise required by law, we undertake no
obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements
included in this press release, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, after the date hereof. You
should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements,
as actual results may differ materially from projections,
estimates, or other forward-looking statements due to a variety of
important factors, variables and events including, but not limited
to: our ability to accurately predict and effectively manage health
benefits and other operating expenses and reserves, including
fluctuations in medical utilization rates due to the ongoing impact
of COVID-19; our ability to maintain or achieve improvement in the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Star ratings and
maintain or achieve improvement in other quality scores in each
case that can impact revenue and future growth; the risk that the
election of new directors, changes in senior management, and any
inability to retain key personnel may create uncertainty or
negatively impact our ability to execute quickly and effectively;
uncertainty as to the expected financial performance of the
combined company following the recent completion of the acquisition
of Magellan Health, Inc. (the Magellan Acquisition); the
possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from the
Magellan Acquisition or the acquisition of WellCare Health Plans,
Inc. (the WellCare Acquisition) (or other acquired businesses) will
not be realized, or will not be realized within the respective
expected time periods; disruption from the integration of the
Magellan Acquisition or from the integration of the WellCare
Acquisition; unexpected costs, or similar risks, from other
acquisitions or dispositions we may announce or complete from time
to time, including potential adverse reactions or changes to
business relationships with customers, employees, suppliers or
regulators, making it more difficult to maintain business and
operational relationships; the risk that the closing conditions,
including applicable regulatory approvals, for the pending
disposition of Magellan Specialty Health may be delayed or not
obtained; impairments to real estate, investments, goodwill and
intangible assets; a downgrade of the credit rating of our
indebtedness; competition; membership and revenue declines or
unexpected trends; changes in healthcare practices, new
technologies, and advances in medicine; increased healthcare costs;
changes in economic, political or market conditions; changes in
federal or state laws or regulations, including changes with
respect to income tax reform or government healthcare programs as
well as changes with respect to the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability
Reconciliation Act (collectively referred to as the ACA) and any
regulations enacted thereunder that may result from changing
political conditions, the current administration or judicial
actions; rate cuts or other payment reductions or delays by
governmental payors and other risks and uncertainties affecting our
government businesses; our ability to adequately price products;
tax matters; disasters or major epidemics; changes in expected
contract start dates; provider, state, federal, foreign and other
contract changes and timing of regulatory approval of contracts;
the expiration, suspension, or termination of our contracts with
federal or state governments (including, but not limited to,
Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE or other customers); the difficulty of
predicting the timing or outcome of legal or regulatory proceedings
or matters, including, but not limited to, our ability to resolve
claims and/or allegations made by states with regard to past
practices, including at Envolve Pharmacy Solutions, Inc. (Envolve),
as our pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) subsidiary, within the
reserve estimate we previously recorded and on other acceptable
terms, or at all, or whether additional claims, reviews or
investigations relating to our PBM business will be brought by
states, the federal government or shareholder litigants, or
government investigations; the timing and extent of benefits from
our value creation strategy, including the possibility that the
benefits received may be lower than expected, may not occur, or
will not be realized within the expected time periods; challenges
to our contract awards; cyber-attacks or other privacy or data
security incidents; the exertion of management's time and our
resources, and other expenses incurred and business changes
required in connection with complying with the undertakings in
connection with any regulatory, governmental or third party
consents or approvals for acquisitions or dispositions; any changes
in expected closing dates, estimated purchase price and accretion
for acquisitions or dispositions; restrictions and limitations in
connection with our indebtedness; the availability of debt and
equity financing on terms that are favorable to us; inflation;
foreign currency fluctuations; and risks and uncertainties
discussed in the reports that Centene has filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. This list of important factors is not
intended to be exhaustive. We discuss certain of these matters more
fully, as well as certain other factors that may affect our
business operations, financial condition and results of operations,
in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),
including our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form
10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Due to these important
factors and risks, we cannot give assurances with respect to our
future performance, including without limitation our ability to
maintain adequate premium levels or our ability to control our
future medical and selling, general and administrative
costs.
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SOURCE Centene Corporation