The company says the move is effective immediately, and Stephen Hemsley will take over as CEO.
Andrew Witty, the chief executive of UnitedHealth Group, stepped down “for personal reasons” and was effective immediately, the company announced on Tuesday.
Now, Stephen Hemsley will serve as the company’s CEO and chairman of the board of directors.
Meanwhile, Witty will serve as a senior adviser to Hemsley, the company said.
“We are grateful for Andrew’s stewardship of UnitedHealth Group, especially during some of the most challenging times any company has ever faced,” Hemsley said in the statement.
“The Board and I have greatly valued his leadership and compassion as chief executive and as a director and wish him and his family the best.”
Although Witty is stepping down, UnitedHealth still “has tremendous opportunities to grow as we continue to help improve health care and to perform to our potential—and, in so doing, return to our long-term growth objective of 13 to 16 percent,” he added.
Witty also released a statement saying that being the CEO of the largest health insurance company in the United States “has been a tremendous honor as they work every day to improve the health system.”
“They will continue to inspire me,” he said.
The company drew headlines last year when the CEO of its subsidiary UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was shot and killed in Manhattan while he was on his way to a conference. Days later, a suspect in the case, Luigi Mangione, was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after an intensive manhunt.
Mangione faces first-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon, murder in furtherance of terrorism, and stalking charges. Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case.
Prosecutors suggested that Mangione shouldn’t be lionized as the murder suspect has been celebrated by some online, connected to some negative opinions about the U.S. health care and insurance industries.
“Luigi Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson—an innocent man and father of two young children—was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement in late April.
