By: Health Insurance
Submitted: 2010-02-01 19:38:10 | Word Count: 369
ConnectiCare President and CEO Michael E. "Mickey" Herbert will announce his retirement today after leading the regional health insurance company since 2005.
He will be succeeded by Michael Wise, who has been chief financial officer and executive vice president since December 2005, a transition that has long been planned internally, said ConnectiCare spokesman Stephen Jewett. Wise officially becomes CEO and president on March 1.
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"Since the day he joined the company, he has been an outstanding leader and I knew he would eventually fill my position at ConnectiCare," Herbert said. "Over the years, Michael has continued to manage more and more of the company's activities and this will be an easy transition for him. The company is in great hands."
Herbert, 65, has been an active player on the national health care scene, not just in recent years as Congress debated ways to reform the industry, but also during the rise of HMOs in the 1980s.
Herbert served as the national chairman of America's Health Insurance Plans and is still on the board. In recent months, he has spoken to business groups about the insurance industry's point of view in health care reform.
"He traveled in the most important circles in health insurance and health care, but the political and economic base from which he did it was a relatively small company," said Robert Patricelli, who co-chaired the Connecticut Health Insurance Policy Council with Herbert. "So, that doesn't happen unless you're really respected by your peers." Herbert came to Farmington-based ConnectiCare in September 2005, replacing former chief Marcel "Gus" Gamache who retired after heading the company for 11 years.
ConnectiCare is the fifth-largest health insurer in the state with 221,147 members, according to an October 2009 report by the Connecticut Insurance Department. The company also has some members outside Connecticut and some with dental coverage for a total of about 240,000.
