View PDF

Golden Rule CEO Therese Rooney to Retire, Veteran Health Insurance Executive Named New CEO

July 12, 2005 - Golden Rule CEO Therese A. Rooney said today that she is retiring from the company she has led for the past decade and that Richard A. Collins, currently senior vice president of customer financial solutions for UnitedHealthcare, has been chosen to succeed her effective on August 8.

Golden Rule, a national leader in the individual and family health insurance business for nearly 60 years, became a UnitedHealthcare company late in 2003.

In making today’s announcement, Rooney said that she was leaving Golden Rule at a time when the company is prospering and its future is bright. “Business is good and I have every reason to believe it will get better,” Rooney said. “I am very confident that Rich Collins will provide the leadership Golden Rule needs to prosper in the days ahead.”

Collins, who has had a long and successful career in the health insurance industry, brings a wealth of experience to Golden Rule including expertise in underwriting, pricing, healthcare economics and strategic research. He joined UnitedHealth Group in 1996 as vice president of Uniprise with responsibilities for underwriting, pricing and reporting before moving to the UnitedHealthcare division in 2000 to lead the customer financial solutions organization which has over 450 employees.

Prior to joining UnitedHealth Group, Collins started the underwriting department at the then-largest health plan in Connecticut and also held other positions in the industry. He and his family will be relocating to Indianapolis from Connecticut.

“This is a time of great change in the individual health insurance business and the need for our products and services has never been greater,” Collins said. “The Rooney’s built a successful organization with outstanding, dedicated employees. I look forward to building on their legacy and leveraging the capabilities of UnitedHealth Group to enhance the health and well being of our customers."

Therese Rooney joined Golden Rule, the company founded by her grandparents in the basement of their home in Lawrenceville, Illinois more than 60 years ago, in 1978 as manager of internal audit. At the time, her father, well-known insurance leader J. Patrick “Pat” Rooney was chairman and CEO of the company.

Within 10 years, Rooney had risen to executive vice president and was named chief operating officer in 1990 and then president and CEO of Golden Rule Financial Corporation four years later. She has held her present position since 1996.

Rooney told Golden Rule employees that she looked forward to the future, to spending more time with her children before they are off to college and “to giving back for the many blessings life has afforded me.”

About Golden Rule

Golden Rule Insurance Company, a leading provider of health insurance for individuals and families for 60 years, is a UnitedHealthcare company. UnitedHealthcare (www.unitedhealthcare.com) provides a comprehensive array of consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services to small and mid-sized employers and individuals nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is an operating business of UnitedHealth Group, a diversified Fortune 50 company that provides a full spectrum of products, resources and services designed to make health care work better. Through its family of businesses, UnitedHealth Group serves approximately 55 million people.