Brown-Forman CEO retiring in December
Paul C. Varga, who has led Brown-Forman Corp. for more than a decade, will retire at year's end, and will be succeeded as CEO by another executive at the spirits company best known for its Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey brand.
The next CEO at the Louisville-based company will be Lawson E. Whiting, who currently serves as chief operating officer. Varga will remain on Brown-Forman's board of directors after stepping down as CEO.
Varga focused during his tenure on Brown-Forman's premium spirits portfolio while expanding its global markets and overseeing the release of brand extensions.
The company built on its best-known brand by rolling out Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey and Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire, capitalizing on an industrywide trend toward flavored whiskeys. The company has rejuvenated its Old Forester bourbon brand, and is set to officially open its new downtown Louisville distillery for the historic brand next month.
The company expanded its global reach, and its products now are sold in more than 165 countries.
Unum donations total $12.8 million
Chattanooga-based Unum and its employees contributed $3.3 million last year to nonprofit organizations throughout Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia.
That amount was part of more than $12.8 million in total charitable support from the company in the U.S., U.K. and Ireland. In addition, employees in Unum's Chattanooga office volunteered 19,336 hours to their favorite local causes valued at $466,771.
"Helping build stronger communities is one of our core values and is reflected in our long-standing tradition of giving back," said Miles Huff, community relations specialist. "Year after year, our employees demonstrate our commitment to the Chattanooga community by giving their time, talents and financial resources."
Unum's recently released 2017 Corporate Responsibility Report highlights the company's focus on social responsibility and support of public education initiatives that provide students more opportunities to learn.
WellCare to buy Medicare provider
WellCare is spending $2.5 billion to become the biggest Medicaid coverage provider in Michigan and Illinois and add an in-house pharmacy benefit manager, following the lead of competitors like UnitedHealth and Cigna.
Pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, run prescription drug coverage. Insurers have been pushing to build or buy those businesses in large part to improve how they share patient data and manage care. They're also trying to gain better control of prescription drug costs.
Cigna Corp. said in March that it would spend $52 billion on Express Scripts Holding Co., one of the nation's biggest PBMs. The Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer Anthem is building a PBM with help from CVS Health Corp., which is buying the insurer Aetna.
Meanwhile, the nation's largest insurer, UnitedHealth Group Inc., has created one of the biggest PBMs through its Optum business.
WellCare Health Plans Inc. will buy the privately held insurer Meridian in a cash deal it expects to close this year. Meridian has about 1.1 million customers and a pharmacy benefit manager that mainly serves that customer base.
Indiana lands plant for electric vehicles
An electric vehicle startup announced Wednesday that it is retooling an Indiana factory and hopes to conduct trial runs for two new lines of vehicles by the end of the year.
State officials say SF Motors, a Silicon Valley-based subsidiary of China's Chongqing Sokon Industry Group, plans to hire back some workers who were laid off when AM General halted operations at its Mishawaka plant last year.
The company says it will spend $160 million to buy, renovate and retool the factory, which will serve as the company's main U.S. manufacturing plant. It plans to employ up to 467 workers.
To secure the deal, the state of Indiana is offering the company $3.8 million in tax credits and up to $500,000 for worker training. The state is also offering an additional $653,000 in tax credits through a program that encourages companies to take over existing out-of-operation facilities.
Saint Joseph County, where the factory is located, is also considering an economic incentives package for the company.
U.S. employers add 178,000 jobs in May
U.S. businesses added 178,000 jobs in May, according to a survey, a solid total but below the average monthly gains accumulated over the winter.
Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that hiring was strong in construction, education and health care, and professional and business services, which includes accounting, engineering and legal services. Retailers cut jobs.
The figures suggest companies continue to hire at a healthy pace but may be pulling back as the number of people who can't find jobs dwindles, making it harder to find new employees. From November through March, monthly job gains averaged well over 200,000.
ADP compiles hiring data from millions of companies that are clients of its payroll services.