Jean Benson is the Central Region CEO for UnitedHealthcare Community & State. In this role she is responsible for empowering and supporting local market UnitedHealthcare health plans for the central region. UnitedHealthcare Community & State proudly serves 6.45 million Medicaid members in 30 states, plus Washington D.C. UnitedHealthcare is a division of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) which is a diversified health and well-being company with a mission to help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone.

Jean began her career at UnitedHealth Group in 2012 as Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance at Optum (a division of UnitedHealth Group) responsible for activities including strategic planning, budgeting and forecasting, pricing, actuarial services, corporate consolidations and capital.

Subsequent roles include Chief Financial Officer for UnitedHealthcare Community & State where she was responsible for the overall financial management of the business and the Chief Financial Officer of Optum, where she and her finance teams worked closely with business leaders to set strategy, drive financial accountability, improve overall cost position, support the development and execution of business plans, provide decision support and optimize the deployment of capital.

Before joining UnitedHealth Group, Jean served in a number of executive positions at companies within the financial services industry and started her career in public accounting.