Sarah London

Courtesy of Centene
  • Title
    CEO
  • Affiliation
    Centene
  • Country/Territory
    U.S.
One year into the top job at St. Louis–based Centene, Sarah London, the youngest female executive on the Fortune 500, is taking a different approach than her peers in health insurance. As other insurers make mega-acquisitions, London, 43, is divesting a few noncore businesses and focusing on Medicaid and Medicare markets. After selling its Spanish and Central European businesses last year, Centene sold its U.K. hospital operator in a $1.2 billion deal in June. As the U.S.’s largest Medicaid insurer, Centene is especially challenged by this year’s redeterminations process, in which Medicaid enrollees had to recertify their status in the government health program. The company lost 263,000 members in the second quarter and said it expects to ultimately lose as many as 2.2 million of its 16 million Medicaid members. Even so, the company sees opportunity for growth in entering new states, as well as in states expanding their Medicaid programs.