WellCare chair, former CEO, steps down

TAMPA — David Gallitano has stepped down as chairman of the WellCare Health Plans board of directors, ending a six-year tenure that included more than a year as the interim CEO of the managed health care services company.

Christian Michalik, a member of the WellCare board since 2002, will replace Gallitano as chair.

“Dave's contributions to WellCare have been significant,” says Ken Burdick, WellCare's CEO, in a release. “During his tenure, Dave refocused WellCare's strategic direction, and set us on a path to improve performance, while reinvesting in associates, processes and tools that have energized the whole company.”

Gallitano joined the board in 2009, and was named its chair in May 2013. A few months later he became the company's CEO after Alec Cunningham was asked to step down after four years on the job. Gallitano remained CEO until Burdick was brought in this past January.

“I am very proud of the work we have done at WellCare,” Gallitano says in a release. “I am looking forward to the next chapter in my life, and I am confident that under its current leadership, WellCare will achieve its business objectives and multi-year plan.”

Gallitano is president of Tucker Advisors Inc., a private investment and consultant firm based in Baltimore. Machalik is the managing director of Kinderhook Industries, a private equity investment firm based in New York City.

WellCare, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WCG, targets government-sponsored health care programs, with 4.1 million members nationwide. Last month, WellCare reported a profit of $63.7 million, or $1.45 per share, on revenue of $13 billion in 2014, compared to a profit of $175.3 million, or $4.03 per share, on revenue of $9.5 billion the year before.