FRANKLIN (AP) - Long-time Healthways CEO Ben Leedle has left the wellness program provider, which named Chief Financial Officer Alfred Lumsdaine as an interim replacement.

The Franklin company did not give a reason for Leedle's departure Monday. A printed statement said that he had "stepped down," and a spokeswoman declined to elaborate.

Leedle had served as CEO since 2003.

The announcement Monday came more than a month after Healthways' board decided against selling the company. Healthways said in late March that its board unanimously decided that continuing to focus on its growth plan as a stand-alone public company was the best way to improving shareholder value.

Healthways said Monday that a board committee will consider both internal and external replacements for Leedle.

Healthways provides wellness and disease prevention programs for people through customers that include employers, health plans and govern ment entities. These programs cover an array of things like helping people improve their diet and exercise more, and they aim to cut health care costs by improving health and preventing expensive medical conditions from developing.

Healthways shares closed at $17.23 on Friday and had slipped about 13 percent so far this year.