Both right before and immediately after former Blue Shield of California Chairman and CEO Bruce Bodaken retired at year-end, his successor has made a number of high-level personnel moves at the San Francisco nonprofit company. The latest round came today, with eight new executive promotions or appointments.
Late last year, Paul Markovich, Bodaken’s successor in the CEO role, reshuffled the senior executive ranks even before moving up as chief executive. Late last month he announced a new chief information officer,Michael Mathias. Today’s announcement included the following promotions and appointments, which the San Francisco-based insurer said are part of a “continuing effort to position the company for future growth and success”:
- Cathy Campbell joins Blue Shield from rival WellPoint as vice president of senior markets, responsible for Medicare Advantage and related plans for older enrollees.
- Brent Hitchings, at Blue Shield since 2007, moves to vice president and general manager of small business.
- Edward Lui, with the company since 2005, moves up to vice president of commercial underwriting for its Markets Division.
- Jessica McCarthy, a four-year company veteran, becomes vice president of integrated marketing and client experience.
- Bill McQueen moves up to vice president and general manager of Premier Accounts, from director of account management, where he’s responsible for large clients like unions, public sector agencies and big corporations.
- Dan Prettyman, with Blue Shield since 1999, is promoted to vice president of finance for the Markets division.
- Jeff Smith, with the company for three years, is now vice president for individual and family plans, an area where Blue Shield has received much criticism from advocacy groups and regulators.
- Darrin Wells, with Blue Shield for 15 years, is named vice president of network and trend analytics.
Campbell and Smith will be based in Woodland Hills; Hitchings and Prettyman in El Dorado Hills; Lui, McCarthy and Wells in San Francisco, and McQueen in Walnut Creek.
Blue Shield has 3.3 million enrollees in California and 5,000 employees. It posted $10 billion in revenue last year, making it one of the state’s largest health plans. But it faces new challenges with health reform, implementation of the Covered California health insurance marketplace, and other trends that are putting significant pressure on large health insurers.