OC’s CalOptima names interim leader as Richard Sanchez retires

Michael Hunn, a former hospital executive with Providence Health & Services in the Greater Los Angeles area, has been named interim chief executive officer of CalOptima, the public agency that is the health care insurer for the poor and the disabled in Orange County.

CalOptima’s board of directors selected Hunn on Thursday, Nov. 4, to fill the top post to be left vacant with the retirement of Richard Sanchez. Sanchez left his position as director of the Orange County Health Care Agency to join CalOptima in April 2020, shortly after the start of the coronavirus shutdown. Sanchez started as interim director at the publicly funded CalOptima and became permanent CEO only a year ago, in November 2020.

In addition to overseeing administration of health services to more than 850,000 children and adults in Orange County, Hunn, 66, is expected to assist the eight-member board of directors in finding a new permanent chief executive. He starts his new position Monday, Nov. 8. He lives in Laguna Niguel.

Hunn heads up an eponymous healthcare advisory service, Hunn Group, that works with doctors, hospitals, health systems and other groups. He was with Providence from 2006 to 2014, and has served on the board of the Hospital Association of Southern California.

CalOptima Board Chairman Andrew Do, who also sits on the county’s board of supervisors, said in a news release, “The Board is confident in Michael’s ability to lead while we conduct a national search for a permanent CEO.”