WellCare has been trying to shake off its past transgressions and grow amid speculation of being a target for acquisition, and now its executive suite is ready for business.
WellCare is splitting up the roles of its chairman and CEO David Gallitano, who's staying as non-executive chairman while Ken Burdick, a COO recruited to the company in January, takes over the reins of CEO, the first non-interim CEO since Alec Cunningham left in 2013.
"I'm very optimistic about WellCare's mission and direction," said Burdick. "We are making great progress on our strategic plan, and I'm honored to have the opportunity to lead this company into what is an exciting and promising future."
Burdick came to WellCare as a managed care veteran, working in various leadership roles at Cigna from 1980 to 1993, then spending 17 years at UnitedHealth Group, two years at Coventry and six months of 2012 as CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.
Now Burdick is taking on leadership of a Medicaid and Medicare-focused insurer that's growing in states like Missouri and South Carolina, and still recovering from its prosecution for Medicaid fraud between 2003 and 2007.
Cunningham, now a president at Fidelis Care, the New York State Catholic Health Plan, lead Wellcare through the aftermath of the scandal, starting in 2009 -- the same year Gallitano joined the board, as the only member not under investigation.
Since Cunningham's departure last November, Gallitano has held the CEO position on an interim basis. Now aged 66, Gallitano is passing on the executive torch; he recently executed options on about 10,000 shares of the company and still owns about 41,000.
Burdick "has been instrumental in developing our strategy, building the infrastructure we need for the future and transforming our company's culture," Gallitano said. "His extensive healthcare background will enable him to continue to effectively implement the company's long-term plans."
WellCare is stacked with two top executives with significant experience, Burdick and CFO Drew Asher, who joined the company in August from Aetna and spent 15 years at Coventry.
WellCare also recently appointed Blair Todt to the newly created position of senior vice president, chief legal and administrative officer, after four years at the company, and Kelly Munson, an eight year WellCare veteran, to the position of senior vice president of product development and oversight of Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.
WellCare is one of several smaller publicly-traded insurers, like Centene, Health Net and Molina, that Wall Street analysts think could be targets for a takeover in the coming years.
In the meantime, WellCare is fixing its image and trying to expand in areas with growing Medicaid managed care programs, as well as Medicare Advantage and Part D. The company has around 4 million members nationwide.
"We expect our recent acquisitions as a whole to perform better in 2015 than in 2014," Gallitano said in a recent conference call for the third quarter, when the company posted net income of $19 million. "Our top-line growth rate won't be as high as the past few years. We expect single-digit revenue in 2015 while we improve the earnings profile of our current $12.7 billion of revenue."