Anthem Turns To New CEO Familiar With Blue Cross And UnitedHealth Playbooks

The next top executive at Anthem will be a woman familiar with the Blue Cross Blue Shield brand and who knows its larger rival UnitedHealth Group as well, the insurer announced Monday.

Gail Boudreaux will replace Joe Swedish as CEO of Anthem , the nation’s second-largest health insurance company, effective Nov. 20. Swedish, 66, will serve as executive chairman of Anthem's board until May 2018 and then serve as a senior adviser through May 2020, the company said.

Boudreaux, 57, is highly respected in health insurance industry circles, particularly at Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans. She led Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and came in second 10 years ago to become CEO of its parent Health Care Service Corporation, which runs Blue plans in Illinois, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Montana.

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“Gail Boudreaux is a decisive leader with deep expertise in the health care industry and an outstanding track record of driving results throughout her impressive career,” George A. Schaefer, Jr., the lead independent director on Anthem's board, said in a statement. “The Anthem Board is confident Gail will draw from her extensive experience to deliver strong operating performance, excellent financial results and a laser focus on customer experience and shareholder value. In an evolving industry, Gail brings the right skills for the times.”

After her stint at Health Care Service, Boudreaux went on to the executive suite at UnitedHealth Group, where some thought she may eventually replace Stephen Hemsley as CEO. But Boudreaux parted ways with UnitedHealth Group in 2014, and Hemsley in September was succeeded by David Wichmann. At UnitedHealth, Boudreaux led the company’s health insurance business. UnitedHealth said when she left that she successfully achieved the “growth and performance goals that were set when she joined the company in 2008.”

Now, the former college basketball star, who led Dartmouth College’s women’s basketball team to three Ivy League titles, will get to lead a health insurance company as CEO. Anthem operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in 14 states and is working to overcome various challenges, including its failed acquisition of Cigna and its underperforming individual business under the Affordable Care Act.

“We see the appointment of Gail Boudreaux, a very highly seasoned and respected managed care executive who has earned her stripes and credibility with the Wall Street community at Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield IL and most notably at UNH, as likely to drive immediate multiple expansion and get ANTM to its well-deserved premium to peers,” Leerink Partners analyst Ana Gupte said in a report Friday. “We expect she will enjoy particularly strong credibility with the ANTM Board given her experience as the CEO of a major not-for-profit Blue Cross Blue Shield. We expect she will be the right executive to lead ANTM to its next phase of growth, after CEO Swedish's successful four-year tenure in turning around a troubled company during the challenging years of Obamacare implementation and re-focusing after the anti-trust and legal challenges of the Cigna deal.”