Chief Change Officer
Chris McSwain is an executive leader who can help any company successfully transform their business strategy, human resources practices, and culture to solve their most important problems. As a Chief Change Officer, Chris understands CEO’s expect the CSO and/or CHRO to have an expanded set of skills. As a thought leader with an enviable track record of success across a wide range of industries, company sizes and business conditions, he is known for creating innovative, and industry leading solutions for highly complex business, employee, and cultural challenges. Within health care, benefits, human resources and human capital management, his solutions consistently deliver exceptional financial savings, breakthrough levels of employee engagement and impact operational performance.
After ending his public company career with Walmart in 2014, Chris has leveraged the consulting practice he started in 2007. His first engagement was at Aasonn, a privately held, virtual company funded by private equity, as Chief Strategy Officer. In one year, as a named executive officer with ownership, he was able to dramatically accelerate the pace of change and delivered the vision he had for transformation across the Strategy, Marketing and Human Resources functions.
Chris spent four years at Walmart as Vice President, U.S. Benefits, where with his leadership, his teams created innovative Centers of Excellence for heart and spine surgeries utilizing direct contracting with leading hospital systems. These and other strategies created desired change in the health care system and continue to drive marketplace practices. In a bold move, established partnerships working horizontally across business segments producing the initial launch of Walmart Care Clinics. For first time in 50 years, created and delivered a comprehensive wellbeing program to all 1.4M associates at every day low cost, creating a movement among associates, directly impacting business performance metrics and permitting commercial opportunities.
Prior to Walmart, Chris led Global Benefits at Whirlpool. A multi-year strategic plan focusing on innovative benefit solutions, employee centric health management designs, turning vendors into partners, and relentless focus on measurement produced flat health care costs during, and for fours years following his tenure; while increasing company employee engagement scores. These results earned a national Total Health & Productivity Award. Chris was listed on the 20 People to Watch among notables Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney and Warren Buffett.
With a bold vision and strong leadership necessary to change a 160 year old culture, Chris’s pioneering work for SCANA was put onto the national stage when he received the inaugural Benefits Manager of the Year Award from Business Insurance. Highlights include moving from traditional pharmacy benefit management to an integrated, company managed on-site pharmacy, wellbeing and employee assistance programming, and a mobile medical unit. Other innovations and business results earned press from HR Executive, NY Times, Time, Managed Care, World at Work and Integrated Benefits Institute.
Chris’ career also includes leadership roles with increasing responsibility across various human resources functions at Novartis, General Dynamics, Syngenta, and Reichhold. His Board appointments include Integrated Benefits Institute, Dossia, Employers Health and Center for Health Value Innovation.
Outside of work, Chris enjoys boating, and quality time with family and friends. As co-founder of World Wide Wellbeing, Chris remains a global leader motivated and dedicated to making the world a better place.