What happened
While it didn't have a spectacular Tuesday on the stock market, pharmacy chain operator CVS Health (CVS 0.84%) managed to eke out a win over the S&P 500 index. On the back of a top-level executive hire, CVS's share price rose by nearly 0.5%, beating the essentially flat performance of the indicator.
So what
Just after market hours on Monday, CVS announced that it has named a new president for its Aetna insurance and benefits unit. This is Brian Kane, who has served in a variety of executive positions in both the insurance and financial sectors. His tenure starts on Sept. 1, and he replaces Daniel Finke, who the company said is bowing out due to health reasons.
In the former industry, Kane was CFO of another top health insurer, Humana, a position he held from 2014 to 2021. Previous to that, he spent 17 years at white-shoe investment bank Goldman Sachs in the investment banking division.
In CVS's press release on the new appointment, Kane was quoted as saying that his aim was to work with colleagues "to help build on existing efforts to make healthcare simple, personalized and affordable."
CVS acquired Aetna in 2018 in a splashy $69 billion deal that fused together the insurer with the pharmacy operator. At a stroke, it vaulted CVS into a top-ten global healthcare company.
Now what
So, with the appointment of the very experienced Kane, it's clear that CVS still considers Aetna to be fundamentally important to its business. We'll see how his leadership impacts the unit. For now, though, it appears to be a smart and sensible hire, and many investors are viewing it positively.
