Tom O’Neil is a managing director with broad private- and public-sector experience, including leadership roles in boardrooms and C-suites of companies in the consumer, financial services, and healthcare sectors.
As a governance, compliance, and risk management thought leader, Mr. O’Neil partners effectively with financial sponsors, corporate boards, and leadership teams to drive ethical and sustainable growth through disruptive innovation and fulfillment of stakeholder expectations. An adept communicator, he thrives in high-growth, turnaround, restructuring, and crisis settings. During a distinguished career spanning several decades, he has developed an exceptional record of accelerating cultural transformation and restoring trust with regulators, enforcement officials, and investors. He has chaired the audit and risk oversight; ethics and compliance; and nominating and governance committees of corporate and mutual fund boards.
In his most recent corporate leadership role, Mr. O’Neil was the global chief compliance officer of Cigna Corporation, a health service company with over 70,000 employees and approximately $160 billion in top-line revenue. He has held a number of positions in public companies, including executive vice chairman, general counsel, and secretary of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. and senior vice president and general counsel of the MCI Group. Mr. O’Neil also has been a partner at two global law firms: DLA Piper LLP (US) and Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells US LLP). During his tenure at DLA Piper, he was a joint global practice group leader and chaired the US Government Affairs practice group.
From 2010 through 2016, Mr. O’Neil was the founder and president of The Saranac Group LLC, a strategic consulting firm that provided healthcare governance, compliance, and business ethics advice to boards of directors, senior management teams, and private equity firms. Saranac is now an affiliate of BRG. Earlier in his career, Mr. O’Neil served as an Assistant US Attorney in the District of Maryland, a law clerk to US District Judge Alexander Harvey II, and a legislative assistant to former Congressman Stewart B. McKinney. He received his AB (magna cum laude) from Dartmouth College and his JD from Georgetown University.
As an adjunct professor of law, Mr. O’Neil has taught corporate governance at Georgetown University. He is a former member of the school’s Board of Regents, the Board of Visitors of the Georgetown University Law Center, and the Board of Trustees of the Walters Art Museum. He also served as co-chair of the Advisory Board of the Georgetown Corporate Counsel Institute.
Employment History
Cigna Corporation
Global chief compliance officer
2016 – 2019
Acting Medicare and Medicaid chief compliance officer
2016
The Saranac Group LLC
President
2010 – 2016
Wellcare Health Plans Inc.
Executive vice chairman
Senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary
2008 – 2009
DLA Piper US LLP
Partner
Joint global practice group leader
Chair, U.S. government affairs practice group
Co-Chair, government controversies practice team
2002 – 2008
The MCI Group
Senior vice president and general counsel
2001 – 2002
MCI Worldcom Inc., MCI Communications Corporation
Senior vice president, chief legal counsel
Vice president, chief litigation counsel
1995 – 2001
Hogan and Hartson LLP
Partner and associate
1990 – 1995
U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland
Assistant U.S. Attorney
1986 – 1989
Venable, Baetjer and Howard LLP
Associate
1984 – 1986
U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland
Law clerk
1982 – 1984
U.S. Congress
Legislative assistant
1980 – 1982
Professional Affiliations
Maxor National Pharmacy Services, LLC
Independent Director
Chair, Ethics, Compliance, and Quality Committee
2023-Present
Compassus Holdings, L.P.
Chair, Ethics, Compliance and Quality Committee
Member, Audit and Risk Oversight Committee
2020 – present
Brown Advisory Funds
Chair Person
Independent trustee
Chair, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Member, Audit and Compliance Oversight Committees
2012 – present
BEVMO! Holdings Inc.
Independent director
Chair, Audit and Risk Oversight Committee
2011 – 2020
TRLG Holdings, LLC.
Independent director
Member, Audit Committee
2013 – 2017
Irish Legal 100
Member
Community/Civic Involvement
President’s Council
Pathfinder International
2022-Present
Georgetown University
Co-chair, Advisory Board, Corporate Counsel Institute
2013 – 2015
Board of Regents
2005 – 2011
Board of Visitors, Law Center
1999 – 2011
The Contemporary Museum
President, Board of Trustees
2003 – 2008
The Walters Art Museum
Former Trustee
