Mac Crawford

Mac Crawford is currently the co-founder and principal in CrawfordSpalding Group, a business advisory and management services company. The company’s services are based on Crawford's experience in turning around struggling companies, particularly companies within the health-care sector.  Crawford's previous history within the sector includes the transformation of Charter Medical into Magellan Health, and his handling of the merger that formed CVSCaremark.

Born in 1949, Crawford earned his BS degree in accounting from Auburn University and began his career as an accountant with Arthur Young & Co. in 1971.  There, he expanded his knowledge of the business world and left Young in 1981 to become the CFO of a number of small companies. In 1986, Crawford became the president of the Mulberry Street Investment Company, overseeing investments in a variety of sectors, but not the one where he would make his mark – healthcare.

In 1990, Crawford had an opportunity to enter the healthcare space and became the executive vice president of hospital operations at Charter Medical. What the company needed was a financial restructuring amid a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but Crawford began to examine the company’s services. He began making changes from the company mission of inpatient care for behavioral health and realigning the company towards industry shifts towards outpatient and home health care.  His success did not go unrecognized, and from 1992–1993, Crawford took a promotion to president and COO, and then to chairman, CEO, and president in 1995.  That year the company acquired a rival company, Magellan Health Services and changed the name of the overall company to Magellan Health.

 In 1997, Mac Crawford became president and CEO of physician-practice management company MedPartners. When he joined MedPartners, it was struggling with operating losses and close to $2 billion in debt. Crawford steered the company away from its core service offering of physician-practice management companies to focus on pharmacy benefits management (PBMs) and changed its name to Caremark.  In 1998, Crawford became the company's CEO, president and chairman. The result of his leadership was increased revenues, reduced debt, and the acquisition of its rival AdvancePCS. In 2007, Caremark merged with pharmacy CVS to become the Fortune 20 company CVSCaremark.

For three consecutive years (2005-2007), Crawford was named “Best CEO in Healthcare Technology and Distribution” by Institutional Investor magazine.