Health insurer Aetna has appointed Richard Leonard as new chief technology officer, reporting to vice president and chief information officer Michael Mathias.
He joined Aetna in 1996 following the acquisition of US Healthcare. During his career, he led a number of technical teams within Aetna Information Services.
Most recently, he has been responsible for the strategy and architecture used in technology solutions as well as assessing the technology and driving the technical integration of acquisition targets.
Before Aetna, he held a variety of information technology positions at Verizon, then known as Bell Atlantic, including application development, teleprocessing and managing the data centers and infrastructure support organizations.
Mathias said Richard brings strong technical expertise and a deep understanding of Aetna’s IT systems to his new role.
"As the head of Systems Architecture and the company’s mergers & acquisitions IT services team, he has had great exposure to how Aetna’s IT infrastructure supports the company’s strategy," Mathias said.
Aetna offers a range of traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities and health care management services for Medicaid plans.