Health Care Service Corp. said Wednesday that President and CEO Paula Steiner is leaving the company after more than three years at the helm.
The Chicago-based company, which owns health plans in five states, said David Lesar, the former chairman of Halliburton and a HCSC board member, will take over as interim CEO until a replacement for Steiner is found.
Maurice Smith, president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, was named president of HCSC.
"With HCSC well-positioned for the future, the board decided now is the appropriate time for a leadership change," a spokeswoman for the company said.
A person with knowledge of the situation explained that Steiner's departure was the result of a clash at the board over the company's long-term strategy in a competitive merger and acquisition environment.
HCSC reported profits of $4.1 billion in 2018, compared with $1.3 billion in 2017, according to documents filed with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Those figures don't factor in the company's business from self-insured employers, however.
HCSC will immediately begin searching for Steiner's successor. She spent more than three decades at Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies and is credited by HCSC with stabilizing the company's presence in the Affordable Care Act exchanges while helping it expand its footprint in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
"Paula led the company through significant industry change and oversaw our continued diversification and steady growth," Milton Carroll, chairman of the HCSC board of directors, said in statement. "We are grateful to Paula for her many years of leadership and service to HCSC and our 16 million members, and we wish her well in future endeavors."
Smith, who has been with HCSC for more than two decades, has served as president of its Illinois health plan since 2015.
