Steve Nelson named new president of Aetna

A former chief executive officer at UnitedHealthcare has been selected to serve as the president of CVS Health's Aetna insurance subsidiary.

The selection of Steven Nelson to lead Hartford-based Aetna was announced Wednesday. Nelson had most recently served as chief executive officer of ChenMed, a Miami-based health care provider focusing on senior citizens.

Nelson had been with ChenMed since 2022, but had only been in the chief executive officer's role with the company for six month before he left "by mutual agreement" this past July.

David Joyner, president and chief executive officer of CVS Health, said Nelson "is an industry veteran who has successfully led multiple segments of a diverse managed care company and driven innovation and growth throughout his career."

During his time at UnitedHealthcare, Nelson held several roles leading the company's commercial and government businesses to significant improvements in growth, profitability, employee engagement and culture, and customer satisfaction.

Nelson's hiring comes during a particularly turbulent period at Rhode Island-based CVS Health.

The company announced on Oct. 7 that it will be laying off 416 Aetna employees, including 93 workers-based at the insurer's offices at 151 Farmington Ave. in Hartford. The layoffs are scheduled to occur in early December and are part of a larger round of layoffs that CVS Health had announced on Sept. 30.

Two weeks after CVS Health informed Connecticut officials of the Hartford-based layoffs, the company's chief executive officer, Karen Lynch, stepped down and was replaced by Joyner, who was president of CVS' pharmacy benefits manager subsidiary, Caremark.

Even as Nelson's hiring was made public, CVS Health officials announced that the company's third quarter profits were down from the same period a year ago.

"Steve is an industry veteran who has successfully led multiple segments of a diverse managed care company and driven innovation and growth throughout his career," said Joyner. "I will work closely with him and the team, building upon and accelerating the plan to advance Aetna forward."