Cigna adding Conn. jobs, stirring concerns about Phila. staffing

Cigna Corp. will announce the addition of at least 200 jobs to its corporate headquarters in Bloomfield, Conn., on Tuesday, raising the question of how long one of the nation's largest health insurers will continue to maintain its corporate presence in Center City.

Representatives for Mayor Nutter and Cigna Corp. both declined to comment, and Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's spokesman, David Bednarz, was not immediately available.

A source in Nutter's office said the mayor had conversations with Cigna officials Monday, in advance of a major noon announcement planned by the Connecticut governor at Cigna's complex on Cottage Grove Road in Bloomfield. The source could not be named because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

The source, who is familiar with economic and business planning for the city, said that more headquarters functions would shift to Connecticut but that the number of jobs in Philadelphia might not be affected.

Malloy has chosen Cigna's Connecticut offices to describe a major state initiative that will provide generous incentives to the first five businesses that bring 200 or more jobs to the state in a year.

Ever since David M. Cordani, 44, became Cigna's president and chief executive in January 2010, the locus of power in the company has moved from Philadelphia to Connecticut. The previous chief executive, H. Edward Hanway, lived in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Until recently, both Cigna's chief financial officer and its general counsel worked out of Philadelphia. But there are new people in those jobs now and both of them will be in Bloomfield.

Transferring to Connecticut from Chicago, Ralph J. Nicoletti replaced acting chief financial officer Thomas A. McCarthy on June 20. McCarthy was based here, as was his predecessor, Annmarie Hagan.

General counsel Nicole S. Jones rejoined Cigna on June 6 and will work out of the company's Bloomfield office.

Cigna had been consolidating its employee base here.

Employees worked in both One and Two Liberty Place but were being moved into Two Liberty Place. Most of the Philadelphia staff works in Cigna's group life insurance and disability business, but Cigna's largest business, its health insurance lines, is run out of Connecticut.

CIGNA had 3,912 employees in Connecticut as of October, including 3,250 in Bloomfield. It also has operations in Delaware and Scranton. Cigna has 1,100 employees in Center City.