Name: Mike Stuart
Previous title: Interim CEO, Blue Shield of California
New title: CEO and president, Blue Shield of California
The California nonprofit has officially appointed Stuart, who’s served as Blue Shield’s interim CEO since March, as its permanent chief executive.
Stuart has decades of experience in finance and health system leadership. Before being named Blue Shield’s interim CEO, Stuart was the payer’s CFO for three years. Prior to joining Blue Shield in 2014 and working his way up the corporate ladder, the executive spent more than a decade in leadership roles at Redwood City, Calif.-based Daughters of Charity Health System, according to his LinkedIn.
Blue Shield provides health insurance to roughly 6 million members across commercial, Medicare and Medicaid plans and brings in more than $27 billion in annual revenue. Stuart is taking the reins at the insurer during a period of spiking medical costs that’s led Blue Shield to trial new pharmacy models and direct contract with drugmakers to get cheaper medications.
In January, the payer also restructured, creating a new parent company called Ascendiun to oversee its health plan and other businesses. Paul Markovich, Blue Shield’s longtime CEO, was appointed president of Ascendiun, while Lois Quam was named Blue Shield’s first female CEO. Quam, however, stepped down two months later.
In an interview with the Sacramento Bee, Stuart said he planned to focus on tying payment to patient outcomes, making providing and receiving healthcare easier for medical workers and patients and finding ways to tackle rising costs.
Kristina Leslie, the chair of Blue Shield’s board, said that Stuart is the “right leader at the right time” for the insurer in a statement Tuesday.
“Mike’s financial expertise, collaborative approach and long-standing commitment to the nonprofit values that guide us make him uniquely positioned to lead our organization forward,” Leslie said.
