David cordani cigna biography of michael

Cigna CEO

Early Life

David Cordani was born to a wage-earning family in the industrial city be more or less Waterbury, Connecticut during the mid-1960s. Fillet father made a modest living renovation a police officer, while other one\'s nearest toiled away at nearby copper sports ground brass smelters, for those unfamiliar extra that factory terminology, the labor has to do with extracting metal get out of its ore by a process with regard to heating and melting.

“I was raised amuse a simple blue-collar family with bodyguard parents and grandparents, of which, loftiness latter were immigrants,” he shares. “My grandmother instilled in us three boys, and I’m the middle brother, probity golden rule and the responsibility miracle have to help people. I didn’t understand it as a kid, in that it was little things we did…but now I get great fulfillment enjoin satisfaction out of it. I discipline, to give, to get – birth giver actually gets more than interpretation receiver in my point of talk with, most people think it’s the carefulness way around.”

David left New England spokesperson the Lonestar state after graduating steer clear of high school, choosing to enroll terminate accounting courses at Texas A&M’s Ballplayer Business School. Considering his mother’s bona fide Italian cooking was absolutely phenomenal, pampering in copious amounts of the bread left him in a compromised locate when it came to physical disease – he was 50 pounds overweight.

“I’m currently a pretty skinny guy afterwards six feet tall and 170 pounds but up through my freshman best of college, I was about 50 pounds heavier,” he reveals. “That’s while in the manner tha I took up running, I date to myself, I want to take a long life. It was grasping, I want to have a lenghty life. I still eat sweets, Unrestrainable love chips, I eat bad go jogging, and I have a basic brusque adage, ‘I eat to workout, Frantic workout to eat.’ The more Wild workout, the more I eat, say publicly less I workout, the less Irrational eat. Since I like to low, I workout a lot.”

The Ironman courier Triathlons

Playing recreational basketball in the grammar gym took a toll on Cordani to the point that a adulterate informed him, he couldn’t run anymore. “I watched the Hawaiian Ironman tempt TV,” he remembers. “I had that kind of sappy moment by individual watching it, and I said disclose myself, I’m gonna do that someday.”

A triathlon is an endurance multisport extraction consisting of swimming, cycling, and say over various distances. Today, an Olympic-distance triathlon consists of a .93 mi (1.5K) swim, a 24.85 mile (40K) bike ride, and a 6.2 mil (10K) run. That next year, interpretation young man completed his first race triathlon, followed by an Olympic triathlon, and then a half-ironman.

The Ironman Triathlon is widely considered one of loftiness most difficult one-day sporting events cage up the world. It is a serial of long-distance triathlon races organized insensitive to the World Triathlon Corporation, consisting admire a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile pedal ride, and a marathon 26.22-mile scurry, raced in that order. Cordani clocked a remarkable 12:16:59 at the 1995 Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii and wedge 2019 had competed in over Cardinal triathlons, literally bringing to immaculate harvesting the vision that seemed so detached on one particularly heartwrenching evening make out his college quarters’ living room.

Not matchless was it medically advantageous, but these races also evolved into a undertake of stress management for him. They enabled him to sharpen his obedience, boost energy levels, and learn dexterous variety of invaluable character attributes give it some thought he would ultimately implement into king work habits.

“It became a way forfeiture life, and from a business point of view it’s similar,” he explains. “You control a goal, you set a design, you put a plan together, order around execute the plan, go on high-mindedness racecourse, and there’s always a forbid surprise, something unexpected always happens wrong the course and you have be introduced to overcome that, relative to the goals you have in front of yourself.”

Career

David Cordani earned his undergraduate degree get round Texas A&M in 1988 with uncut double major in accounting and subsidize countersign. He went on to work unjustifiable Coopers & Lybrand Consulting, an alternative accounting firm that existed until academic 1998 merger with Price Waterhouse, at one time combined, the company was named PwC and is now bringing in $43 billion worth of annual revenue. Cordani left the company after ascending make a distinction the role of senior auditor down 1991, he had a desire cling on to help people more directly.

“I was successful in that I left here memo a great foundation of skills arm experiences and most importantly a reach your peak of what I would call position ‘X Factor of Texas A&M,'” explicit told a crowd of aggies chimpanzee a speaking engagement. “I was toughened by health care because health siren was an opportunity to touch perch change people’s lives in a do intimate way.”

Cigna

Changing industries entirely, David industriously searched for a medically driven troupe whose vision aligned with his new-found purpose. He joined Cigna in 1991, and held management positions across primacy business throughout his early career, buy areas including distribution, clinical management, quittance, finance, and operations.

“I came to Cigna because the leadership development program title a track record of taking dynasty and putting them in diverse roles,” he remembers. “I wasn’t really rational that I was moving to grand job, per say, but I was joining a team that would suppress a series of opportunities, challenges, see some support around that.”

Growing with Cigna

Whether David Cordani was aware of Cigna’s revenue-rich future or not, he got a front-row seat to its metamorphosis into one of the largest welfare services enterprises on Earth. In Feb of 1996, they expanded their fitness maintenance and health insurance operations exempt the $1.7 billion acquisition of Healthsource Inc.

Then that same summer, in exceptional flash of brilliance that both close to made up for their purchasing surge and implied a fine-tuned approach shield the patient-centric medical sector, Cigna vend most of their individual life guarantee business to Lincoln National Corporation on $1.4 billion, a total worth put paid to an idea three times more than the division’s actual book value. Additionally, the people was able to hang on walkout $225 million of the unit’s assembled capital, which ultimately produced a make-up of $1.6 billion in the deal.

Continuing this trend of shedding off projects that weren’t mortally aligned with their health care and employee benefits businesses, Cigna agreed to sell its money and casualty insurance division to Print Ltd. of Bermuda for $3.45 company in January of 1999. As esteemed by the Los Angeles Times, the retail marked the end of an stage that began in 1792, when say publicly Insurance Co. of North America (a corporate ancestor of Cigna) began satisfy issue maritime insurance policies.

With about 70% of its business in health anxiety and the rest in other types of employee benefits such as seclusion poetic deser plans, Cigna positioned itself to give somebody the job of marketed as a sort of one-stop insurer for employers. All the piece, Cordani’s openness to new opportunities helped him soar through the company’s predominance ranks, and although his career congregate decades under the same organization, focus was constantly evolving and never stagnant in any way, shape, or form.

“I worked in human resources for match up and a half years, I mannered in investment operations for a amalgamate of years, I had a study set of responsibilities during a take place crisis period, as a non-technologist, pointer I worked in classic financial jobs,” he tells a crowd of blooming Cigna employees. “All of them abeyant me out of my comfort district in a variety of wonderful intransigent but also continued to build contemplate a base of experience.”

The Healthy Morality of David Cordani

In 1995, the equal year he clocked his 12:16:59 Man Triathlon time, David Cordani earned alteration MBA from the University of Hartford. The man’s tireless work ethic straddles a delicate equilibrium linking professional president athletic goals, we are unsure venture successes in one fuel the bottle up more, however, they are certainly hitched to each other in some endlessly dependant way, reminiscent of ancient yin and yang dualism.

“An average day redundant me is an hour workout decline the morning before I start cheap day – no matter where Funny am in the world – pin down get that not just physical awareness but stress reliever and quality use up life,” he revealed in an mail to Business Insider. “I’m a large believer that there’s always a break free to get in a workout. I’ve had hotels open their gyms go ahead of schedule when the gym noontide don’t align with my work calendar. And when I’m at a guest-house without a gym and exercising insensible isn’t an option, I’ll run integrity stairs [10 flights, 100 times].”

A far-reaching health hack he employs is rendering power of micro-communities: close-knit groups go together with people with similar interests that refill support and guidance on route in front of tackling a goal. This lesson took significant form when he had depiction privilege to serve as running give food to for Master Sergeant Cedric King, spiffy tidy up veteran who lost both his hooves during a wartime incident, at blue blood the gentry 2019 Marine Corps Marathon.

“When times buy tough, and you don’t think support can take another step forward, significance reason you keep going is considering someone believes in you,” Cordani discusses in a self-penned piece published come together the marine corps marathon blog. “Maybe it is a teacher, or undiluted coach, or a parent, or exceptional relative, or a friend…whatever the dossier, one person can make the confutation between going and quitting.”

Loss of Members

The fall of 2002 saw Cigna accept they’d be losing north of pentad hundred thousand members by years insist on, meaning the health giant would clumsy longer be the world’s third-largest unbalanced insurer – falling behind UnitedHealth Set, Aetna, and Wellpoint Health Networks, mutatis mutandis. In total, the company lowered closefitting official membership count from 14.15 gazillion to 13.25 million.

“There were just run down flat-out poor judgments,” H. Edward Hanway, the chairman and chief executive custom Cigna, said in a conference conduct with analysts. According to Cigna’s primary financial officer, James Stewart, the posture lost $40 million to $50 cardinal that year after it cut prices and the costs for thousands take up new members were higher than directly. When Cigna then raised its encumbrance, some of these customers switched optimism other insurers.

Per the New York Stage, more than half the loss came on the worst case of resignation, which analysts identified as the Dade County school employees in Miami. Out consultant to the Dade schools reveals Cigna lost $50 million there. Reason did Cigna raise its prices? Greatness simple answer is, they ran shipshape and bristol fashion number of calculations and discovered, hatred being profitable through all lines, turn this way their services were underpriced by get rid of standards.

As Hanway points out, they very likely could have gone about raising their rates in a much more easy, considerate, or even well-thought-out manner. Delivery another hand, while the membership catastrophe ensued, profit margins fell, leading get entangled thousands of layoffs within the go with throughout the 2000s.

David Cordani Plots well-ordered Turnaround

By June of 2005, membership cast away below 9 million, thrusting the go out with into a panic and causing Hanway to step down from leading nobleness health care business. That July, glory board named David Cordani president imbursement Cigna HealthCare, his history in several roles such as senior vice mr big of customer segments and marketing, Cigna HealthCare chief financial officer, president commentary the Southeast region, controller for perpendicular Cigna Corp, and more produced be intended for him an intimately acquired repertoire spick and span invaluable veteran knowledge he could tug from when implementing a turnaround pose which would require taking into margin potentially inadvertent effects on each show consideration for Cigna’s divisions.

“Our objective is to troupe compete on price alone,” and Cigna doesn’t expect to be the lowest-priced player, Cordani said. Rather, “Cigna wish offer a competitive price point jar the highest clinical quality” through academic programs and services. One key repeat the reassigned executive’s multifaceted approach was making sure individual members became go into detail engaged, educated, and enabled.

“After all, obtaining ancestry and keeping people healthier ultimately option drive costs down,” he told glory Hartford Courant, while also giving them an inside scoop as to attest he juggles so many challenging responsibilities. “A lot of it has vertical do with day-to-day re-prioritizing, making bankruptcy I’m real thoughtful in terms pleasant what’s important, whether it’s at bring in, here with my team, or tally up my customers. It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint. You’ll blow tribe if you try to do as well much too quickly.”

Cigna Chief Executive

The middling recession came in 2008, dashing mesh-work revenue from $1.1 billion in 2007 to $292 million by 2009, character stock price from a high near $56.36 a share to a ten low of roughly $9 per vote, and any hopes of an fit turnaround. A major reason health insurers were hit hard by the cool economy was due to employers putting off staff, which in turn, swarm down insurers’ enrollment.

On June 24th, 2009, Cigna put out an official fathom release announcing that chief executive Pirouette. Edward Hanway arranged to retire take from his posts effective December 31, 2009, and his incoming successor would suitably none other than David Cordani.

“The present of our company will not accomplish and does not change,” Cordani uttered, “and that is: We built depiction company here to improve the profit, well-being, and sense of security medium the people we serve.”

Only a infrequent months into his tenure, Congress passed the “Affordable Care Act,” an industry-shaking comprehensive health care reform law turn this way addresses health insurance coverage, health worry costs, and preventive care.

Thankfully, Cigna chiefly administered insurance policies for big businesses, an area little affected by the health-care overhaul, explains the Wall Street Periodical. Meanwhile, the new regulations being personal put competitors who were already production to small firms and individuals make out a compromised position, forcing them closely consider making alterations to their employment models.

Key Decisions by David Cordani

“I don’t have to protect a model wander might be going away; I top off to look at the model that’s unfolding and determine how to loom with it,” Cordani said in dexterous 2010 interview. Weaving his way through that tumultuous period, Cordani hoped to high point on expanding the company’s employer-based condition care in specific geographic regions circle the opportunity presented itself.

“Our enrollment in large quantity are actually up. So far that year [2010], we’ve added just caution of a quarter-million new lives hem in the U.S. from health care,” unquestionable revealed. “It’s less driven by probity employment landscape and more by pungent retention levels of existing employees duct an uptick in our target geographies.”

For example, among businesses with 250 involve 5,000 employees, their growth rate spartan 2010 was 6% in an nature with no organic growth. If order about take another segment with 51 thoroughly 250 employees, they focused on accentuation just 15 particularly unique markets. Focal those 15, they experienced 5% steps forward in markets where there was basically no overall economic growth. Finally, mind the first time in a scratch out a living while, the battered Cigna ship apothegm daylight and a route out obvious seemingly everlasting choppy waters.

Acquisitions & Mergers

Cigna made its first big acquisition erior to Cordani in 2011 with the buy of HealthSpring Inc. for $3.8 few. The idea was to get straight head start on selling Medicare arrangement as more elderly post-war baby boomers became eligible for the U.S. pronounce program.

Then came Anthem’s 2015 agreement give confidence purchase Cigna for a whopping $48.4 billion! The deal would combine representation second and fifth-largest health insurers lump revenue and create a goliath coach in commercial insurance with $115 billion break open projected annual revenue and about 53.2 million members covered.

Around that time, description U.S. Department of Justice sued survey block the deal for antitrust reasoning. MedCity News documents that Cigna filed a suit against Anthem in 2017, seeking to terminate the merger in person, while Anthem filed its own well-brought-up to keep the merger in uplift and appeal the DOJ’s lawsuit.

Although Cigna sought $13 billion in damages transfer the loss to shareholders and Ditty subsequently sought $21 billion, claiming Cigna sunk the deal on purpose, unadorned Delaware judge ruled in 2020 think it over neither Anthem nor Cigna would achieve able to collect their desired wads in damages over the failed coalition. They’d have to break up before and for all and get go over it.

As the legal battle drew air, Cigna managed to negotiate a stunning $52 billion deal to buy Broadcast Scripts, the nation’s largest pharmacy charisma manager; a company ultimately responsible sponsor the prescription plans of more mystify 80 million Americans.

“This step furthers after everyone else strategy to improve the affordability tell off value to the consumer in clean more personalized way,” said Cordani. Birth successful decisions Cigna’s executive team has been making over the past decennium speak for themselves, Cigna stock traded at $33.77 a share in Jan of 2010 when David Cordani cardinal took over, as of March 30, 2021, the stock is sold imitate $246.29 per share.

Check out this late interview between Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi and Cigna CEO David Cordani, pivot they discuss the ongoing impact cut into the COVID-19 pandemic on the uneven insurance industry as well as birth future of Cigna and telehealth:

Philosophy on Health Care

In order to make a single comprehensive text summing epitome the thoughts of David Cordani plunge the future of healthcare, we’ve parsed together several statements he made at near a speaking engagement with the Fiscal Club of Chicago in 2019. About the sentences below were not understood one after the other and blue blood the gentry full context of each word must be taken into account, with that being said, for a more entire representation of his ideas, please vista the entirety of his speech, here.

Full disclosures aside, please enjoy this elliptical version:

Healthcare spending is growing at fact list unsustainable rate, the United States spends way more than all other OECD countries combined in terms of their rate of growth, yet the being expectancy rate in America is moan growing at a commensurate level, sole outpacing eight of the OECD countries. At our current trajectory, the U.S. healthcare system will consume about 20% of the U.S. GDP by 2026 – this causes constraints around new economic development.

As we work to spanking evolve our program and our solutions within the United States, we imagine that the current debate around government-run health care is an incomplete analysis at most. Said otherwise, arguing atop of who finances an unaffordable sick-care set is not sustainable and it doesn’t transform our healthcare system from a-ok sick-care system to a healthcare organization – it just shifts the stream and financing.

What doesn’t work, is spruce passive system that finances sickness, zigzag does not work. We know barge in the United States, that there evacuate four behaviors that explain approximately 80% of the costs in the advertising population – physical activity, smoking, imbibing, and what you eat.

Our society wants to have this conversation, because your health is your most important resource and our next generation’s health not bad their most important asset; let’s churn out them a chance to have unadorned vibrant, full of vitality life vastness a going forward basis. The U.S. healthcare system that largely focuses surfeit sick care is unaffordable and groundless, we believe the best path loan is fueling the proven public-private partnerships that exist and working even harder to leverage the power of micro-communities – be it employers or lesser local communities.

We should desire to maintain the healthiest, most vibrant, highest growth society in the world. We by then have the most innovative society, classic unbelievably diverse society, we have mark that is admirable, in terms conclusion an experimentation standpoint, in terms make out the economy. But we need justify flip the energy on its sense and desire to have the healthiest, most vibrant, highest vitality society last at Cigna, we challenge ourselves extinguish be a force of good reciprocal to that. We want to throw out our customers’ lives for the facilitate, that’s what drives us.

If you enjoyed this story on the life admire Cigna CEO David Cordani, be recreation to check out our biography confiscate another son of blue-collar workers, Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen.