Cigna Group has promoted Andrea Nelson, a company veteran with a significant track record in law leadership roles, to the position of chief legal officer. Nelson’s tenure at Cigna spans six years, during which she played a pivotal role in corporate and regulatory strategy, mergers and acquisitions, investment activities, and securities reporting and disclosures.
Nelson joined Cigna through the company’s acquisition of Express Scripts Holding Co. in 2018 and was instrumental in the integration of the two entities. Her promotion sees her succeed Nicole Jones, who has been serving as Cigna’s lead lawyer since 2011. Jones, who remains the general counsel and chief administrative officer, will continue to oversee various strategic functions, including communications, community programs, compliance and risk, government affairs, human resources, and regulatory matters.
In her previous role, Nelson was the chief counsel for Evernorth, Cigna’s health services subsidiary. She also managed talent recruitment, budgeting, forecasting, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within the legal department. Her career prior to Cigna included roles at law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, general counsel at CastiaRx, and in-house lawyer for Express Scripts.
Cigna has remained active in the M&A space, recently agreeing to sell its Medicare Advantage unit to Health Care Service Corp. for $3.3 billion. This deal, among others, reflects Cigna’s ongoing strategy to streamline its operations while navigating complex regulatory landscapes. Details on these transactions can be found here.
As for Jones, her executive duties have expanded considerably, which includes a notable increase in her annual base salary to $850,000. Cigna announced that its corporate secretary, Kari Knight Stevens, has been appointed as chief human resources officer, and the company continues to make several executive team changes, including the recent promotion of Geneva Campbell Brown to chief sustainability and diversity officer. For detailed information on Jones’s role and compensation, visit the company’s latest proxy statement.
For more, read the full article on Bloomberg Law.