CVS shrinks board, drops ex-Aetna CEO Bertolini as director

CVS Health Corp. will drop three directors from its 16-member board, including Mark Bertolini, the former chief executive officer of Aetna, the health insurer it bought in a transformative $68 billion deal in 2018.

The changes, which will shrink the board to 13 members, are being made to "further align with corporate governance best practices," Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based CVS said in a statement Monday.

The Aetna acquisition, announced in December 2017, was the health, pharmacy and benefits company's biggest-ever deal, and a bet that the U.S. health-care system is shifting to a more integrated model.

"With the bulk of the integration behind us and the Aetna business performing strongly," CVS spokesman T.J. Crawford said in an emailed statement, "the board felt it was the right time for Mark to focus on his other endeavors."

Bertolini said that he wasn't renominated to the board of directors.

"I offered to continue my service to the board in what I think is the most transformative effort in health care for the company and for the nation, and the board felt otherwise," Bertolini said in a phone interview.

Bertolini said he serves on six boards, three for-profit companies and three nonprofits, including Verizon Communications Inc. and Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation. He is helping his son's high-school friends with a microgrid energy company.

CVS shares were up 0.5% to $68.13 at 10:43 a.m. in New York. Over the past 12 months, the stock has gained about 4%.

Also leaving the board are Richard Swift, the former CEO of Foster Wheeler Ltd., the energy-services company, and Richard Bracken, the ex-CEO of for-profit hospital chain HCA Inc.

CVS said the changes will go into effect after the company's annual meeting of shareholders. The company hasn't set a date for the 2020 meeting yet; last year's was held in May.