Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please submit the good news—or the bad—from your shop, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
CVS Health
CVS Health is shuffling the responsibilities for members of its senior leadership team in its latest organizational realignment. While Shawn Guertin will continue as chief financial officer and Prem Shah will continue as chief pharmacy officer, Guertin will now be president of health services and Shah will be the sole president of pharmacy and customer wellness.
Mike Pykosz and Kyle Armbrester, leaders of Oak Street Health and Signify Health, respectively, will report to Guertin.
Chief Customer and Experience Officer Michelle Peluso is expanding her role to "create a superior end-to-end patient experience across all delivery and customer service channels," according to a press release. Peluso previously served as co-president with Shah in the pharmacy and consumer wellness division. Brian Kane is also joining CVS Health from Aetna, as previously announced in April.
Guertin also worked for Aetna, serving as CFO from April 2011 to May 2019. Shah has worked nearly 11 years for CVS Health but previously was employed by ICORE Healthcare and WellCare Health Plans.
Array Behavioral Care
There are a slew of changes atop the Array Behavioral Care leadership structure, including Shannon Werb being named as CEO for the virtual psychiatry and therapy practice. Joining him is new Chief Medical Officer Sara Gotheridge, M.D., and Chief Financial Officer Ben Schlang.
The trio will work together on a strategy to address mental health needs across the country, according to a press release.
Werb previously served as COO for DispatchHealth, helping the company scale across more than 40 states, and as COO for vRad, a global telemedicine company and the nation’s largest radiology practice.
Gotheridge worked as chief medical officer for Trilogy Behavioral Healthcare from 2004 to 2016 in Chicago. She was also the senior medical director for LifeStance Health and has been a clinical instructor for Northwestern University since 2002.
Schlang has experience in private equity and has been involved with Array for nearly six years as a member of the company’s institutional investor, Harbour Point Capital.
Sound Physicians
Replacing founder Robert Bessler, M.D., Sound Physicians has added Jeff Alter as the company’s newest CEO.
Alter will be the new leader of the medical group comprised of more than 4,000 physicians, APPs, CRNAs and nurses in more than 400 hospitals across 45 states. Sound Physicians has more than 8 million annual patient visits.
He most recently served as CEO for Summit Health from October 2021 to January 2023. Alter also worked in several executive leadership positions for UnitedHealthcare from 2002 to 2018.
UPMC
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has announced Frederick Hargett as the nonprofit health enterprise’s newest executive vice president and Chief Financial Officer after Edward Karlovich resigned as CFO earlier this year. Hargett will assume the position Oct. 1.
Hargett worked as executive vice president and CFO for 15 years at Novant Health, a nonprofit integrated health system in North Carolina. There, he helped grow the organization from $1.5 billion to $8 billion in value by expanding clinical programs and services, according to a press release.
Before Novant, Hargett spent five years as a financial planner and analyst as well as executive vice president of finance.
> AHIP, a national association of members providing healthcare coverage, has named Julie Simon Miller as interim CEO, effective Oct. 2, while the board of directors searches for a permanent president and CEO.
> Designs For Health, a wellness brand that offers dietary supplements and medical foods exclusively to healthcare professionals and their patients, has named Amardeep Kahlon as CEO.
> Experity, the chosen tech partner for 50% of U.S. urgent care clinics, has appointed former Amazon and Uber executive Adrian Agostini as the company’s first chief revenue officer.
> Alignment Healthcare, a Medicare Advantage healthcare delivery company, has rehired Ken Kim, M.D., as the company’s latest chief medical officer. He served in the same role from 2013 to 2018.
> ThedaCare, a hospital system in Wisconsin, has poached Matt Wille from his position as president and CEO of Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, Michigan, to be the group’s new COO.
> Medical City Fort Worth has selected John Hoover as CEO for the hospital, effective Sept. 11.
> MultiPlan, a cost management and payment solutions company for payers, has hired Melissa Humphrey as senior vice president of marketing and communications after she served as chief marketing officer for Health Recovery Solutions.
> Edifecs, a health information technology solutions company, has appointed Rod O’Reilly as chairman of the board of directors, effective immediately.
> HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital has welcomed Jeff Taylor as the hospital’s new CEO.
> Aledade, a physician-led accountable care organization, has tapped Julie Green Bataille as senior vice president of communications, previously working as director of communications at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
> Herself Health, a primary care organization for women aged 65 and older, has selected Sarah Maier, M.D., as regional medical director and Jeffrey Fisher as CFO.
> St. Anthony Hospital, a Level 1 Trauma and Comprehensive Stroke Center in Lakewood, Colorado, has appointed Kevin Cullinan as CEO.
> The Federation of American Hospitals has appointed former senior director of federal and state affairs at SCAN Health Plan Ryann Hill as vice president, legislation.
> Venn Strategies has named Margaret French as the government relations and public affairs firm’s newest vice president in the company’s health practice.
> Healthcare Distribution Alliance, a national organization linking pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmacies, hospitals and other distributors, has tapped lawyer Kala Shankle its vice president of regulatory affairs.
> MaxCyte, a biotech company in Rockville, Maryland, has appointed Ali Soleymannezhad as executive vice president of bioprocessing.
> Harbinger Health, a cancer detection biotech company, has hired Dymeka Harrison as chief commercial officer, Matthew Sargent as chief business officer and Gisela Paulsen as COO.