UnitedHealth Shareholder Seeks Separate Chair and CEO Roles (1)

A UnitedHealth Group Inc. shareholder has filed a proposal to require an independent board chair distinct from the chief executive officer, roles that were combined when Stephen Hemsley returned to lead the company this year.

The proposal from a nonprofit advocacy group called the Accountability Board, if approved by shareholders, would ask the board to amend the company’s bylaws to codify an independent board chair.

“We were very disturbed to see recently that at such a trying time for UnitedHealth, the company chose to go backward and combine the CEO and chair roles,” said Matt Prescott, president of the ...