Jeannine Foster | Age: 44 CEO

Optum Workers’ Compensation and Auto No-fault, a division of Optum Inc.

Tampa, Florida

A misperception about a job description led Jeannine Foster to her career in workers compensation.

While working in the advertising industry 20 years ago, she applied for a job at Fiserv, in its pharmacy development and third-party solutions sector. Later, when she thought she had erred in applying, the company was quick to tell her that her background in communications was a fit.

“The company said, what we are looking for is someone who can help us with contracting and educating pharmacies in our network as well as growing our pharmacy benefits program, so (my background) worked for what the organization was looking for at the time,” she said.

After much experience in the comp sector, gained through several roles at companies later acquired by Optum Workers’ Compensation and Auto No-fault, Ms. Foster in April was named CEO, which she calls her highest career achievement.

Responsible for operations and 1,700 employees, she said her goals are to balance the business side of workers comp with comp’s overall purpose.

“We help injured people get back to work and improve their quality of life; the team has been effectively able to do that, and we have great examples,” she said.

“That’s truly rewarding to see. Whether someone is in finance, IT or in operations … they might not always get to hear the end results about the customers we help each day and how important what we do is, but our leadership, clinical and go-to-market teams help with sharing some really positive outcomes,” she said.

Ms. Foster’s ability to connect with people is a talent that grew out of her having served in many roles, said Tommy Young, the now retired former CEO of Optum Workers’ Compensation and Auto.

“The thing that always impressed me is how she has the ability to work across all departments to get things done,” he said. “It’s easy to say someone is great at managing a client or delivering expectations, but for that to be able to happen you’ve got to be able to work with every department within your organization and manage those tasks and projects accordingly.”