Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) announced Wednesday that its president and CEO Paula Steiner will depart the company.
HCSC board member David Lesar will take over as interim CEO while the company seeks a replacement. Maurice Smith, a long-time HCSC employee who was most recently the president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL), has been tapped to serve as president.
“Paula led the company through significant industry change and oversaw our continued diversification and steady growth,” said Milton Carroll, chairman of the HCSC board of directors. “We are grateful to Paula for her many years of leadership and service to HCSC and our 16 million members, and we wish her well in future endeavors."
A search for Steiner's permanent replacement will begin immediately, HCSC announced.
RELATED: HCSC launches new employee education program called Blue University
As CEO at HCSC, Steiner continued the company's expansion in the Medicare and Medicaid markets and oversaw a stabilization of its Affordable Care Act exchange products. She has spent 35 years working with Blues plans, HCSC said.
Lesar joined the HCSC board in 2018 after spending 25 years working in the energy industry, HCSC said, including 17 as a CEO. Smith held number of leadership roles at HCSC before becoming president of BCBSIL.
Carroll said he and the board have complete faith in Lesar and Smith to lead as the search for a full-time CEO gets underway.
“HCSC is a strong company that exists, first and foremost, to serve its members,” said Lesar. “I look forward to partnering with Maurice and the leadership team to advance our important mission, and to working with the board to identify HCSC’s next CEO.”