Kotte brings more than 20 years of experience
scaling and transforming innovative healthcare models as
CEO
Newly appointed CFO Jason Schulz to sharpen focus on operating
efficiencies, cash flow, and shareholder value creation
Co-Founder and current CEO Clint Jones to transition to newly created role
of Executive Chairman
Seasoned executive David Fisher appointed to the Company's Board of
Directors
CHICAGO, June 6, 2022
/PRNewswire/ -- GoHealth, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOCO) ("the Company"),
a leading health insurance marketplace and Medicare-focused digital
health company, announces today a series of leadership appointments
intended to create strong value for shareholders and all
stakeholders. The Company has named Vijay
Kotte as Chief Executive Officer and Jason Schulz as Chief Financial Officer, both
effective June 6, 2022. Upon assuming
the role of Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kotte will also join the
Company's Board of Directors.
At that time, Co-Founder and current Chief Executive Officer,
Clint Jones, will take on a new role
as Executive Chairman of the Board to continue his work expanding
GoHealth's strong carrier partnerships. Mr. Jones will remain in
this role until January 1, 2023, when
he will transition to Non-Executive Chairman of the Board. Also on
June 6, 2022, Co-Founder Brandon Cruz will transition from his role of
Co-Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer to serve as Non-Executive
Chairman at GoHealth.
"Having built GoHealth from an innovative, customer-centric
startup with a mission to improve access to healthcare in America
into a publicly traded company with more than $1 billion of annual revenue, we have decided the
time is right for a transition of day-to-day leadership," said Mr.
Jones. "We are now at a pivotal inflection point, and our focus for
2022 and beyond is squarely on achieving profitable growth. Both
Vijay and Jason have proven track records of doing just that across
several leading healthcare platforms, and I cannot wait to work
with them in my new role as Executive Chairman to unlock new value
creation opportunities for shareholders, consumers, employees,
partners, and providers."
Mr. Cruz said, "We started GoHealth with a simple idea – an
essential, basic need like health insurance should be more
accessible and easier for consumers to understand and compare. I'm
confident that under Vijay and Jason's leadership, that idea will
remain the cornerstone of GoHealth's strategy and success. On
behalf of the entire Board, I would like to thank Clint for the
lasting impact he has made as GoHealth's CEO – overseeing
tremendous growth, expansion into new markets, and the Company's
IPO."
Positioning GoHealth to Achieve Profitable Growth
Since Clint and Brandon founded GoHealth in 2001, they have led
the Company to become a top choice in the
United States for insurance advice, with roughly 4,000
employees globally, five million Americans enrolled to date, and
more than $1 billion in annual
revenue. GoHealth's proprietary data and technology platform has
continuously evolved to engage with consumers across channels and
simplify the process of selecting the right insurance plan. In
2020, GoHealth launched its Encompass platform, a first-of-its-kind
technology-driven approach to purchasing Medicare Advantage
plans.
"GoHealth has established itself as the premier platform in the
Medicare Advantage e-broker space, and I'm excited to build on the
momentum that this dedicated team has created," said Mr. Kotte.
"With a strong technology platform and experienced team of licensed
agents, GoHealth has a significant opportunity to support Medicare
beneficiaries and capitalize on tailwinds in the Medicare Advantage
market as more than four million seniors age into the market this
year. I'm excited to get started working with Clint, Brandon,
Jason, and the entire team to drive sustainable long-term growth
and profitability."
"I'm eager to join a company focused on reimagining how
individuals find the best insurance plan for their specific needs,
while creating value for care delivery partners and clients," added
Mr. Schulz. "Over the past few months, Clint, Brandon, and the team
have laid a strong foundation for improved cash flow generation,
and I'm looking forward to building on those efforts to further
sharpen our focus on achieving
profitability."
About Vijay Kotte
Mr. Kotte brings more than 20 years of experience, developing
and transforming innovative healthcare models and Medicare-focused
platforms at public and private ventures.
Since 2019, Mr. Kotte has served as Chief Solutions Officer and
Executive Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development at R1.
In this role, he was responsible for R1's physician-focused
operations, including growth, product development, and strategic
initiatives.
Prior to joining R1, Mr. Kotte was the Chief Value Officer for
DaVita Medical Group with accountability for strategy, M&A,
carrier/payor contracting, performance, and operations. Before
that, he was the Chief Financial Officer for DaVita Medical Group
with responsibility for the finance function and oversight of joint
ventures. Prior to DaVita, Mr. Kotte served as President and Chief
Operating Officer of Medicare operations for Meridian Health Plan.
Additionally, he previously served as President of the Midwest
region for WellCare Health Plans, where he was responsible for
operations, Medicare and Medicaid sales, and long-term strategic
planning.
Mr. Kotte holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration
with a focus on Finance and Organizational Management from
Emory University and a MBA from Kellogg
School of Management, Northwestern
University.
About Jason Schulz
Jason brings over 16 years of experience in various finance
executive positions within the healthcare sector, including payors,
hospital systems, and risk bearing physician groups.
Most recently, Mr. Schulz served as President, Pacific Northwest
Region at OptumCare. Before that, he was the Chief Financial
Officer of DaVita Medical Group, prior to its divestiture to
OptumCare in 2019. He has also held CFO roles at NextMed and Mercy
Health Plan.
Mr. Schulz began his career at Great West Healthcare in
Denver, Colorado and later moved
to Cigna after helping to manage a successful sale of the
company. Mr. Schulz holds a Bachelor's degree in Business
Administration from the University of Northern
Colorado, has a MBA from Washington
University of St. Louis,
and is a Certified Management Accountant.
Further Strengthening GoHealth's Board of Directors
As was announced in an 8-K filing on May
27, 2022, David Fisher, Chief
Executive Officer of Enova International, Inc. (NYSE: ENVA), was
appointed on May 25, 2022 to serve as
a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Fisher will serve on the
Board's Audit Committee and fills a vacancy created by Dr.
Helene Gayle, who resigned from the
Company's Board of Directors to focus on her new role as President
of Spelman College.
David Fisher is Chief Executive
Officer of Enova International, Inc. (NYSE: ENVA), a leading
technology and analytics company focused on online lending. Prior
to joining Enova in January 2013, Mr.
Fisher served as the CEO and member of the Board of Directors of
optionsXpress Holdings, Inc., during which time he spearheaded the
company's sale to Charles Schwab.
Before joining optionsXpress, he held CFO positions at
Potbelly Sandwich Works and Prism Financial Corporation.
"David brings a wealth of public company leadership experience
and financial expertise to our Board, and we are thrilled to
welcome him," said Mr. Jones. "We look forward to benefitting from
his valuable perspectives and proven ability to scale
technology-enabled companies as we enter this new phase of value
creation."
Mr. Fisher is also a member of the Board of Innerworkings, a
global print management firm, and GrubHub, a leading online and
mobile food-ordering company. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree
in finance with high honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a
Juris Doctor, Magna Cum Laude, from the Northwestern University School of Law.
Equity Compensation
The Company granted equity-based awards pursuant to the
Company's 2021 Inducement Award Plan to Mr. Kotte and Mr. Schulz.
The inducement grants were approved by a majority of the Company's
Independent Directors and were made as a material inducement to
each employee's acceptance of employment with the Company in
accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) as a component of
their employment compensation.
The inducement grants consisted of a non-statutory option to
purchase an aggregate of 3,833,333 shares
of the Company's common stock,
and 10,583,334 restricted stock units
(increasing up to 13,500,000 if the maximum level of all
performance vesting conditions is achieved) ("RSUs") for shares of
the Company's common stock.
The stock options each have an exercise price equal to the
fair market value of a share of common stock on the date of grant.
The stock options each have a ten-year term and vest in four equal
annual installments over the first four anniversaries of the grant
date. Certain of the RSUs vest immediately and the remainder are
subject to future performance conditions, generally determined on
the third anniversary of the grant date. The vesting of each grant
is generally subject to the employee's continued service with the
Company through the applicable vesting date. The inducement grants
are subject to the terms and conditions of award agreements
covering the grants and the Company's 2021 Inducement Stock
Incentive Plan.
About GoHealth, Inc.
As a leading health insurance marketplace and Medicare-focused
digital health company, GoHealth's mission is to improve access to
healthcare in America. Enrolling in a health insurance plan can be
confusing for customers, and the seemingly small differences
between plans can lead to significant out-of-pocket costs or lack
of access to critical medicines and even providers. GoHealth
combines cutting-edge technology, data science and deep industry
expertise to match customers with the healthcare policy and carrier
that is right for them. Since its inception, GoHealth has enrolled
millions of people in Medicare plans and individual and
family plans. For more information,
visit https://www.gohealth.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
All statements other than statements of historical facts contained
in this press release may be forward-looking statements. Statements
regarding the Company's future results of operations and financial
position, business strategy and plans and objectives of management
for future operations, including, among others, statements
regarding profitability, value for stakeholders and shareholders,
and the management transition are forward-looking statements. In
some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms,
such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates,"
"could," "intends," "targets," "projects," "contemplates,"
"believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or "continue" or
the negative of these terms or other similar expressions.
Accordingly, we caution you that any such forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject
to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that are difficult to
predict. Although the Company believes that the expectations
reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of
the date made, actual results may prove to be materially different
from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements. There are or will be important factors that could cause
the Company's actual results to differ materially from those
indicated in these forward-looking statements, including, but are
not limited to, the following: the Company's ability to comply with
the numerous, complex and frequently changing laws regulating the
marketing and sale of Medicare plans; the potential for an adverse
change in the Company's relationships with carriers, including a
loss of a carrier relationship; failure to grow the Company's
customer base or retain its existing customers; the time and cost
of training agents are significant and can increase during a period
of high attrition; carriers' ability to reduce commissions paid to
the Company and adversely change their underwriting practices;
significant consolidation in the healthcare industry which could
adversely alter the Company's relationships with carriers;
information technology systems failures or capacity constraints
interrupting the Company's operations; factors that adversely
impact the Company's estimate of LTV; the Company's dependence on
agents to sell insurance plans; changes in the health insurance
system and laws and regulation governing health insurance markets;
the inability to effectively advertise the Company's products; and
our ability to successfully implement our business plan during a
global economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The foregoing factors should not be construed as exhaustive and
should be read together with the other cautionary statements
included in this press release, as well as the cautionary
statements and other risk factors set forth in the Company's Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31,
2021 and other SEC filings. If one or more events
related to these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if
the Company's underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual
results may differ materially from what the Company anticipates.
Many of the important factors that will determine these results are
beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. Accordingly,
you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking
statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the
date on which it is made, and, except as otherwise required by law,
the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or
review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new
information, future developments or otherwise. New factors emerge
from time-to-time, and it is not possible for us to predict which
will arise. In addition, the Company cannot assess the impact of
each factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or
combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ
materially from those contained in any forward-looking
statements.
Media Contacts
Kekst CNC
Nick Capuano / Daniel Hoadley
nicholas.capuano@kekstcnc.com / daniel.hoadley@kekstcnc.com
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SOURCE GoHealth, Inc.