CVS named two new executives to its leadership team as the company tries to bounce back from a year that saw its net income cut nearly in half.
The retail pharmacy giant named UPS veteran Brian Newman as its new EVP and CFO and Press Ganey expert Amy Compton-Phillips as its new EVP and chief medical officer. Newman will take over the role on April 21 and Compton-Phillips starts on May 19, CVS announced on April 8.
“As I continue to build out my leadership team, I am confident that Brian and Amy will help us continue the momentum we have built over the past several months,” CVS Health President and CEO David Joyner said in a statement.
Some background. Joyner took the reins from former CEO Karen Lynch in October 2024, and the company has since made several changes in attempts to boost the company’s financial performance, including appointing a new head of insurer arm Aetna and implementing a $2 billion cost-savings plan.
Following the news of the executive changes, CVS shares rose about 9% from $63.84 to $69.97, also buoyed by the announcement of higher-than-expected reimbursement rates for 2026 Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, according to Reuters.
In addition to the executive changes, CVS said in a news release that it now expects to “meet or exceed” its full-year guidance of $5.75 to $6 per share. The company had warned in November that its 2025 earnings would fall short of expectations.
A look at their résumés. Both of the newly appointed executives have extensive experience in various leadership roles.
Newman spent five years as EVP and CFO at UPS after 26 years in numerous leadership roles at PepsiCo. He’s taking over from Thomas Cowhey, who has been CVS Health’s CFO for the past year and a half and will move into a temporary strategic advisory role from May 12 to a yet-to-be determined end date, according to an SEC filing.
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In his new role, Newman is expected to get a hefty paycheck of $1 million annually, with a potential bonus of up to 150% of his salary depending on his performance, per the filing.
Compton-Phillips served as president and chief physician executive of Press Ganey, a healthcare performance improvement firm, for the past two years after spending seven years as president of clinical operations at Providence Health. She also spent 22 years in multiple roles at Oakland, California-based health system Kaiser Permanente. She’s taking over from former EVP and chief medical officer Sreekanth Chaguturu, who was named EVP and president of healthcare delivery in November.
The SEC filing didn’t disclose Compton-Phillip’s compensation.
What analysts think. James Harlow, SVP at Novare Capital Management, an investment management firm that invests in CVS, told Reuters that a “major piece” of CVS’s recovery depends on restoring the executive team’s credibility, and that bringing in someone with CFO experience at another major company is a good step.
Investment firm Leerink Partners’s senior managing director and analyst Michael Cherny seemed to agree, writing in a note that the executive change was “a bit surprising,” but Newman’s experience leading a large public company is “helpful to address the complexity of CVS’s broad enterprise.”
“The commentary on guidance is equally important, with the company’s expectations to be at/above its previous guidance an important starting point to build momentum in what for CVS is a rebuild year,” Cherny continued. “All-in we think the most important factor here is building momentum, which today’s comments and last night’s positive MA rates would seem to suggest is happening.”