When Joseph R. Swedish was deciding whether to become chief executive of WellPoint Inc., he and his wife sat down with a pad and pen to list reasons why he should go to the troubled health insurer rather than continue leading Catholic hospital operator Trinity Health. In the hospital category, they listed "unfinished business." But under the WellPoint heading, Mr. Swedish noted opportunities to "restructure [the] company for success," and affect the "transformation of [the] nation's health care." Now four months into his stint atop the second-biggest U.S. insurer, Mr. Swedish is working to deliver. It is a tall order for the veteran hospital leader, 62 years old, who hasn't been an executive at a health plan before. [Registration required]
