Simplyhealth has appointed Paul Schreier as the permanent successor to Sneh Khemka as CEO.
A year ago today, Health & Protection first reported that Khemka was stepping down from his position as CEO of the cash plan provider for family reasons after two years.
He was succeeded by chief financial officer( CFO) Nick Potter as acting CEO. Potter will return to the CFO role in mid-May when, subject to regulatory approval, Schreier (pictured) will take up his new position
Schreier was himself an interim CEO while at global charitable foundation Wellcome Trust where he led its efforts on Covid-19 treatments. That resulted in him becoming the global therapeutics co-lead for the World Health Organization’s accelerating Covid tools partnership, involving several other multilateral agencies.
Schreier is also a member of the investment committee that oversees Wellcome’s substantial investments’ activities.
Following his studies and a career in the Royal Navy, the Australian joined McKinsey & Company where he became a partner. He was then appointed to the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, becoming deputy secretary with responsibility for economic policy and strategy.
Subsequently, Schreier served as deputy vice-chancellor and chief operating officer at Macquarie University in Sydney, before returning to the UK to join professional services firm Hakluyt in 2016 as CEO.
Schreier said: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining Simplyhealth.
“I believe that we have an amazing opportunity to make a difference to the health of people across the UK, which is something I feel passionately about.
“I am very much looking forward to leading the company at this pivotal time in our country’s history, when improving access to healthcare has never been more important.”
Mike Hall, chairman at Simplyhealth, said: “I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Nick for stepping up and taking on the role of acting CEO over the past 12 months, and – with the help of all of our colleagues -continuing to transform the business to be better delivering low-cost, accessible, quality healthcare for our customers.
“Paul has a truly impressive professional background and through the recruitment process all parties agreed there was a strong strategic and cultural alignment which we believe makes him exceptionally well placed to lead Simplyhealth in delivering on our ambitious future plans.”