Humana Updates Management Team, LHC Group Fills Out Board

Humana updates management team with internal hires

Health insurance giant Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) has filled two leadership roles with internal candidates.

The Louisville, Kentucky-based company has promoted Joseph Ventura to General Counsel and named Douglas Stoss interim lead for Humana’s Office of Corporate Affairs. Both will serve as members of the company’s management team.

Ventura replaces Christopher Todoroff, who is retiring after 10 years as general counsel and chief legal officer at Humana. Ventura joined Humana as legal council in 2009. Todoroff and Ventura will work together for the next few months to ensure a smooth transition.

Meanwhile, Stoss, who has been with the company since 2014, will lead corporate affairs until Humana hires someone to replace Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Heidi Margulis, who will remain on the Humana Foundation Board of Directors. Margulis’s departure comes after 33 years with Humana.

Before Stoss stepped into the new role, he led the company’s Washington, D.C. office. There, he helped the company navigate the federal legislative and regulatory landscape.

Humana also recently announced that Chief Medical Officer Roy Beveridge will be stepping down this spring. He will be succeeded by Dr. William Shrank, who most recently served as CMO of the insurance services division at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

LHC adds hospital CEO to board

Home health, hospice and personal care powerhouse LHC Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: LHCG) is shaking up its board of directors.

Teri Fontenot will join the board of the Lafayette, Louisiana-based company March 1. She succeeds Tyree Wilburn, who will be moving to LHC’s Transitional Advisory Council.

Fontenot is currently the CEO and president at Baton Rouge-based Woman’s Hospital, the largest birthing and neonatal intensive care health system in Louisiana. She has held various positions there over the past 27 years.

Additionally, she currently holds memberships on the board at Louisiana-based insurer Amerisafe, the American College of Healthcare Executives Board of Governors and the American Hospital Association’s Center for Health Innovation Advisory Board.

“Teri’s healthcare board and community leadership experience with local, state and national organizations is extensive and will be an invaluable resource to LHC Group’s shareholders, employees and joint venture partners,” Keith G. Myers, LHC Group’s Chairman and CEO, said in a release announcing the news. “Teri is highly respected as a leader and advocate for the healthcare industry and has a passion for corporate governance that has extended to her service on two public company boards.”

National HME taps 7-Eleven executive

National HME, Inc., a company that supplies medical equipment for hospice providers, has tapped an executive from a convenience chain powerhouse to be its new CEO.

Ena Williams comes to the position after a decade at 7-Eleven, where she most recently served as senior vice president and leader of the company’s international division, worth about $25 billion. Previously, she also worked at ExxonMobil Corporation.

National HME board chose Williams in hopes she can leverage her experience managing complex logistical operations to help the Irving, Texas-based company thrive as the hospice industry booms.

“She has a track record of transforming complex businesses through a focus on customer service, efficient operations and people leadership that we believe is transferable to the hospice market and National HME,” board member Lew Klessel said in a release announcing the news.

Williams stepped into the role Jan. 7.