Brad Hewitt’s Professional Background

Over the course of my professional career I have had a diversity of experiences. I have served in several industries. I have served in both in large and small organizations. I’ve also served in leadership roles in domestic, international, private, public and not-for-profit organizations.

Interim CEO Wilder Foundation: I was asked by the board and the former CEO to be the interim CEO. The intent was for this to be just a short term assignment giving the board time to bring in a permanent CEO. However, the board asked me to stay on longer and help rework the strategy and evaluate the leadership team. Once that was accomplished, the board hired a new CEO and both the organization and the leadership team continue to thrive.

CEO Thrivent Financial: I served at Thrivent as CEO, COO and SVP over the course of 15 years. I joined the organization as a SVP shortly after the merger of the two predecessor companies. This was part of the talent management and CEO successor process. I was brought in to transform and align the part of the organization that acted as the primary marketing and member relations division. I was then appointed to be the COO and was responsible for sales, marketing and all operations. When the CEO retired I was appointed CEO.

CAO Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS): The CAO role is similar to the business CEO. I was appointed by and reported to the Board of Directors for two terms. The responsibilities of this role were to keep aligned all the parts of the denomination. This included the budget for the remittances of all the churches. Making sure the business relationships of the affiliated entities; 10 universities, International organizations (many), Publishing House, Pension, Employee Benefits, Church Lending, World Relief, and the like) where coordinated and followed the Board of directors policies. The President of the denominations role was to align the theology and manage church relations. The organization structure is more like a constitutional government rather than a classic business organization.

CEO Diversified Pharmaceutical Services (DPS): I served as the CFO of DPS through the sale from United Health Care (UHC) to Smith Kline Beecham (SKB). Once the sale was finalized, I became the CEO of DPS and my employment moved from UHC to SKB. I had a 4 year employment agreement. This was the early days of Pharmacy Benefit Managers. My initial assignment was to grow the business quickly so that SKB wouldn’t need to write down the goodwill (UK accounting). The DPS team accomplished this goal because we grew very quickly. However, I decided that the global pharmaceutical business and considerable international travel, while I had a young family, was not for me. I left after my 4 year contract was finished.

Director of Group Financial Underwriting United Health Care (UHC): I joined UHC while it was still a small organization. It was at the time private equity was financing the stability and growth. The founder was moving to be chair and the private equity team brought in a new CEO and CFO. I was on a team that did all the pricing and financial underwriting for new customers, contracts and acquisitions.

Actuarial Service Minnesota Mutual Life: Because of my University degree I was recruited to be on the Actuarial Services team at Minnesota Mutual Life. I decided that I didn’t want to be an actuary after a few years of being in this role. Since my wife worked at the same company, I decided to look for a different role and at a different company.