Humana hires first CRO

Healthcare company Humana has hired Sam Deshpande to fill the newly created position of senior vice president and chief risk officer (CRO) to oversee development of the firm’s chief risk office. He will take up the post on July 17.

Deshpande will report directly to Humana president and CEO Bruce Broussard, and will serve as a member of the company’s management team. He will set direction and establish policy in the areas of enterprise risk management and compliance, while building ‘a risk strategy and culture that manages risk appropriately,’ according to the company.

Deshpande is moving to Humana from Capital One, where he has spent 17 years in various positions, most recently as business CRO for the US and international card business. Before Capital One, he worked for Accenture and Booz & Company.

A Capital One spokesperson did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

‘[The addition of Deshpande will enable the company to establish a consistent definition of risk across the enterprise and drive connections and collaboration throughout the business to ensure timely, proactive discovery and faster mitigation of risks and their causes,’ Humana says in a statement.

A small but growing number of non-financial services companies are appointing CROs and giving them direct access to their boards, industry professionals say (CorporateSecretary.com, 3/15).