Humana is exactly the kind of Fortune 500 company every city wants: a homegrown startup that mushrooms into a major local employer with a national profile.
The health insurer was founded in Louisville in 1961 by attorneys and Kentucky natives David A. Jones and Wendell Cherry, starting with the Heritage House nursing home. (Jones still lives in Louisville; Cherry died in 1991.)
Today, Humana has more than 14.2 million members and does business in all 50 states. It has approximately 50,000 employees, including about 12,500 in Louisville. Many of them work in the iconic 26-story Humana Tower on Main Street. Designed by the famous architect Michael Graves, it transformed Louisville’s skyline when it was completed in 1985.
Insurer Aetna of Hartford announced plans in July 2015 to buy Humana for $34 billion in cash and stock. The tie-up is being reviewed by regulators, and is expected to close in the second half of 2016. Humana has about $49 billion in annual revenue, and Aetna has about $58 billion. The combined companies would have 110,000 employees.
Some key links:
- latest Humana news on Google
- shares of Humana and Aetna
- on Glassdoor and LinkedIn
- investor relations
- board of directors
- top executives
- Boulevard’s executive pay database
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