Upon the retirement of the current president Don Mackos, the company will usher in a new executive team — promoting Marisa O’Neill as chief executive and Kevin O’Bryan as chief operating officer.
“It’s something that I feel like I’ve worked hard for a long time,” O’Neill said.
Mackos founded the company in 2007. Since then, it has expanded to more than 50,000 retirees in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
The company has about 75 employees but she anticipates closer to 100 next year.
“We are growing quickly,” said O’Neill, currently chief growth officer. She is being promoted to CEO after more than 14 years of industry experience, including more than 10 years at RetireMEDiQ.
Kevin O’Bryan, currently chief financial officer, is being promoted to chief operating officer after more than nine years with the company. His new role finds him overseeing all financial, technology, reporting and operations functions of the business.
“It’s the comfort I have in moving on, that we have the right leadership,” Mackos said. “I think the company’s in good hands going forward.”
Mackos career started with a Blue Cross plan up in Youngstown in 1971, he said. He was with the initial group that started Anthem back in 1996 with Blue Cross plans in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.
He’s been in the industry through decades of major health care industry changes.
“Boy that’s the case, between the health insurance plans and now Medicare and the government,” he said, adding that he thought more people would be directly picking their insurance by now.
O’Neill said she’s taking her new role as there’s more changes, including a surge in new retirees shopping for Medicare plans.
“With the sheer number of people that are retiring and turning 65, if we don’t grow, there’s problems. There’s so much growth opportunity, and I’m just really excited to kind of be that person that gets to lead the company into this new chapter,” she said.
O’Neill said she doesn’t always think about being a woman in business because it’s something she’s always dealt with, but said she’s excited to step into her new leadership role. She said hopes to be able to work with and partner with some other female CEOs to learn from them and get their take on how they made that transition.
“I’ve had a lot of comments and people saying that they’re excited that we’re going to have a female CEO, and that they think it’s a different opportunity for us as an organization to have a female at the helm,” she said.
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