David Young is no longer heading up the Coventry work comp business.
His departure, announced to customers after the conclusion of the work comp conference took the work comp management staff (and me) by surprise. Long-time Coventry exec Art Lynch is now running the show, reporting up to Aetna’s Steve Doyle.
While I’ve been a long time critic of Coventry, I’ve also noted Young was in a no-win position. Tasked with generating cash for the enterprise, Coventry’s work comp unit never received the investment or attention it needed to grow and evolve. Instead Young and his colleagues had to raise prices, convince customers to stay with the increasingly-creaky BR 4.0 bill review application, cross-sell all services, and do so with fewer and fewer resources. As a result, customers weren’t happy, and there wasn’t much Young et al could do to make them any happier.
Lynch knows the business, is well-regarded and well-liked, and is a consummate professional. He knows Coventry’s customers and is known by those customers.
What does this mean?
I’d be throwing darts if I speculated, so I won’t.
I really like your ‘throwing darts’ comment! Way to go.
It’s always a bet when there’s new management. Look at Yahoo, for example. Regardless, you’re right in saying that we can only speculate at this point. I wish them the best of luck, David was a great leader.