Omnicare [OH] undergoing top-down makeover

Omnicare Inc. may be the nation's largest provider of pharmaceutical care for the elderly, but it's operated for nearly three decades with few of the internal administrative and financial controls typical of nearly every other Fortune 500 firm.

Correcting those lapses is the first challenge confronting new leadership at the company in the wake of the abrupt retirement in July of long-time CEO Joel Gemunder.

In their first media interviews since Gemunder's surprise exit, interim CEO James "Denny" Shelton and CFO John Workman talked candidly about problems of the past and their ideas for the $6.1 billion firm's future.