Vida Health announced two new hires – both veterans of digital health – to set them up for a strong start to 2018. Stephanie Peng, who hails from Livongo, joins Vida as the new CFO. Raymond Lee, formerly of Proteus Health, joins Vida as VP of Product.

The National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) announced NAPA's 2018 Top Retirement Plan Advisors Under 40. They will be featured in NAPA Net the magazine and honored at the 2018 NAPA 401(k) Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, April 15-17. See the list of Top Retirement Plan Advisors Under 40.

Portfolio Evaluations (PEI), an institutional investment and retirement plan consulting firm, announced the addition of Laura Grassi to the team. Grassi joins PEI in a leadership role as Director of Business Development.

Benefits delivery provider, Hodges-Mace, LLC, announced the appointments of Mike Ehrle to SVP of Strategic Partnerships and Ashley Ferguson to SVP of Sales.  Ehrle is responsible for deepening corporate ties with national brokers, technology consultants, HCM/payroll companies, medical and group carriers, and other key players.  Ferguson manages a team of three regional vice presidents, inside sales, as well as the director of sales operations.

The American Association of Payers, Administrators and Networks (AAPAN) announced that it will significantly increase its advocacy efforts in 2018 to ensure that state legislators and regulators better understand the value workers' compensation pharmacy benefits management (PBM) entities provide.

Those advocacy efforts will be guided by the association's Workers' Compensation participants that include Express Scripts, Mitchell International, Optum Workers' Comp & Auto No-fault, Healthesystems and Coventry Workers' Comp Services, among others.

Employer-facing health analytics software solution provider Springbuk and engagement and cost-containment platform provider HealthJoy announced a strategic partnership. Companies on self-insured health plans that use both Springbuk and HealthJoy will automatically benefit from the integration with no action required on their behalf. Their employees will receive an increase in targeted messaging based on indications of disease to avoid unnecessary costs. They will also receive help from disease and case managers to resolve gaps of care to avoid increased long term health care costs.

Health navigation platform provider Castlight Health announced new partnerships with five digital health companies: Livongo, a chronic condition management solution; Big Health, a provider of mental health and sleep solutions; Hinge Health, a musculoskeletal disorder solution; Retrofit, a weight management and disease prevention solution; and Kurbo, a family weight loss and healthy lifestyle solution. The partners' solutions are available to all Castlight customers.

AgencyBloc, an agency management system and commissions processing software provider built specifically for life and health insurance agencies, has acquired GBS. In the last three years, AgencyBloc has quadrupled their staff size and gained 45 percent year-over-year client and revenue growth. With this acquisition, AgencyBloc maintains their self-funded expansion.

Aflac announced changes for two key executives as part of its ongoing U.S. Operations strategy. Virgil R. Miller has been promoted to president of Aflac Group Insurance and executive vice president; chief operating officer, Aflac U.S., reporting to Teresa L. White, president of Aflac U.S. In his new role, Miller is responsible for the strategic leadership and overall direction of operations at Aflac Group, as well as operations for Aflac U.S.

Jamie A. Lee has been promoted to senior vice president and chief service officer, Aflac U.S., reporting to Miller. In her new role, Lee handles oversight of all service organizations within Aflac U.S. Internal Operations and the Aflac U.S. Transformation Office. Additionally, she oversees Aflac's divisions that support the onboarding and compensation of Aflac's sales producers.