Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Marcelle (Marci) J. Chickering
Executive Vice President, Human Resources

Education

Marci received her bachelor’s degree in Management from the University of Northern Iowa. She earned her Masters in Business Administration with an emphasis in Human Resources from the University of Iowa.

Career
Marci serves as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources. She joined Wellmark in 2003 and has served in multiple HR roles. Prior to her current role, she was the Group Leader, HR Consulting and Organizational Effectiveness.

Marci came to Wellmark with more than ten years of HR leadership experience in non-profit and financial services organizations. Marci was appointed to the Prevent Child Abuse board in 2010. She is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and is certified in the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument.

Mike J. Crowley
Vice President, Investments and Treasury Services

Education
Mike Crowley holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Iowa, with a major in accounting. He is also a certified public accountant (CPA).

Career
As Vice President of Investments and Treasury Services, Mike is responsible for Wellmark's investments, cash management/treasury functions, billing operations, financial analysis, mergers and acquisitions and competitor intelligence. He has been with the company since 1985, serving in a variety of financial and provider network positions. Prior to his current position, he served as the group leader for Financial Planning and Analysis as well as leadership positions in Large Group Underwriting and in Provider Network Development and Management. He has also held staff positions as a Medicare auditor, an internal auditor and PPO coordinator.

Crowley is a Health Insurance Associate (HIA) and Managed Healthcare Professional (MHP) in the Health Insurance Association of America; a Professional in the Academy of Healthcare Management (PAHM); and a Fellow, Life Management Institute (FLMI) in the Life Office Management Association. He is a member of the Iowa Society of CPAs, a board member of the House of Mercy, and is a graduate of the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute.

Philip M. Davis
President and Chief Operating Officer of Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Dakota

Education
A graduate of Arizona State University, Phil Davis received a bachelor of science degree in business administration.

Career
Davis is a vice president of Wellmark, Inc., and president and chief operating officer of Wellmark of South Dakota Inc., dba Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Dakota. He began his Blue Cross and Blue Shield career in 1973, where he served in various management positions with South Dakota Blue Shield. In 1995, he was named president and chief executive officer of South Dakota Blue Shield. Following the Iowa/South Dakota merger in 1996, he served as senior vice president and chief operating officer of Wellmark of South Dakota until assuming his new duties in 1999.

In addition to his current work duties, Davis is very active within the Sioux Falls community having served on the board of several organizations, including the American Lung Association of South Dakota and the Center for Active Generations. He has also served several years on the South Dakota Symphony board and on the board of the Wegner Health Science Information Center.

In 2003, he was appointed by Gov. Mike Rounds to serve on the South Dakota Health Care Commission.

Mike Demand
Vice President, Health & Care Management

Education

A native of Ohio, Mike earned an undergraduate degree with honors from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He also holds a Ph.D. in medical sociology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he graduated with summa cum laude honors and was inducted into the international sociology honor society Alpha Kappa Delta.

Career

Mike joined Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield in March 2011, and leads the company's health and care management functions. This includes utilization management, medical review, case management, disease management, wellness and accreditation programs.

Mike has over 15 years experience in managed care, health care analytics and program management. Prior to joining Wellmark Mike served as Vice President, Care Management for Bravo Health, and on the leadership team of Pfizer Health Solutions and Veridign Health Solutions. He also served as a director in the Health Services division at Independence Blue Cross.

Mike has published and spoken on health lifestyles, care management program design and effectiveness, and Medicare Advantage.

Michele A. Druker
Vice President, Associate General Counsel & Assistant Board Secretary

Education
Michele Druker received her bachelor’s degree with honors from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., and received her Juris Doctor degree with highest honors from the University of Iowa College of Law, where she served as Articles Editor of the Iowa Law Review.

Career
As vice president, associate general counsel and assistant board secretary, Druker oversees all legal and insurance regulatory services including litigation, corporate transactions, contracts, legal services, and insurance filings for Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and its subsidiaries. She also serves as secretary of The Wellmark Foundation. Prior to joining the Wellmark Legal Department in 1988, Druker was a partner at the Dickinson Law Firm in Des Moines, Iowa. She also was a law clerk for Donald Lay, chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Druker is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association, American Health Lawyers Association, Polk County Bar Association and is admitted to practice before the State and Federal courts in Iowa. Druker is a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer for the Central Iowa Chapter of the American Red Cross. She also serves on the Children and Families of Iowa Foundation Board of Directors.

Michael D. Fay
Vice President, Health Networks

Education
Mike Fay earned his bachelor of business administration degree in accounting from Iowa State University. He is also a Health Insurance Associate (HIA) and Managed Healthcare Professional (MHP), as designated by the Health Insurance Association of America and a Professional as designated by the Academy for Healthcare Management.

Career
Fay joined Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield in 1984 and was promoted to vice president of Provider Economics in June of 1998. In that role, he led the Provider Economics team in developing, implementing, and maintaining all hospital, physician, and other provider compensation strategies and claims-payment editing processes at Wellmark. He was actively involved in the development and implementation of the universal contracting and provider compensation strategy for the Iowa market. In his new role as vice president, Health Networks, he is providing strategic direction and leading teams in building and maintaining provider alliances (Network Relations), performing best in class credentialing and contract administration (Network Administration), designing and implementing competitive provider compensation strategies (Network Economics) and retaining and expanding our provider focused quality programs (Collaboration on Quality^®, Clinical Integration and Physician Data Sharing). Mike is currently a member of the Iowa Chapter of the HealthCare Financial Management Association and is a graduate of the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute.

Scott Froyen
Vice President, Sales Operations

Scott Froyen

Education
Scott is a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa with a B.A. in Accounting. He is a certified Public Accountant, a Fellow, Life Management Institute, and a Six Sigma Black Belt.

Career
Scott joined Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield in 1987 and currently serves a Vice President of Membership & Enrollment. In this capacity he leads efforts to ensure Wellmark members receive identification cards, benefit certificates, and that benefits are appropriately established in our membership and claims systems.

Previously Scott has served as Director of Process Excellence and Vice President, Controller at Wellmark. Prior to joining Wellmark he was a Manager at KPMG servicing clients in the financial services industries. He is a member of The Blood Center of Iowa Board of Directors and serves as their Treasurer.

Ellen J. Gaucher MSN, MSPH, FAAN
Executive Vice President

Education
A senior health care leader with over 30 years of experience, Ellen Gaucher holds master of science degrees in public health and nursing. She is also a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Career
Gaucher is the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer at Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. She joined Wellmark in May of 1997 and leads the day-to-day operations of the company, overseeing the major corporate areas of Claims Administration, Customer & Provider Service, and the South Dakota business operations, as well as Wellmark’s third-party administrator, First Administrators, Inc. She is also responsible for the Process Excellence department involved in planning and implementing process management, Six Sigma, and Lean thinking approaches. She has held many nursing and health care administrative positions over the course of her career, including working in a cardiac and thoracic ICU and as a Nurse Practitioner. She previously served as Senior Associate Director of the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has co-authored three books on quality in health care, and served as a judge for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the State of Michigan Quality Leadership Award, and is currently the lead judge for the Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence. She also serves on several local and national boards and committees.

Mike Gerrish
Vice President, Corporate & Marketing Communications

Education

A native of Illinois, Mike Gerrish received a bachelor’s degree in Public Communications and Human Relations from Western Illinois University. He also earned a master’s degree in Organizational Communications from Western Illinois University.

Career

Gerrish joined Wellmark in 2009 and previously served as the Director, Marketing Communications. In September 2011, he was named Vice President of Corporate and Marketing Communications.

Gerrish has a diverse corporate and marketing communications background in retail and financial services that has focused on direct to customer strategies to build strong brands from the inside out. Prior to joining Wellmark, he was the Store Communications Manager for Payless ShoeSource with Collective Brands, Inc. where he led operational communication efficiencies for more than 25,000 employees at 4,600 Payless ShoeSource locations in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America and introduced communication tools to measure associate engagement. Gerrish also served as the Director of Internal Communications with Discover Financial Services, managing and implementing the corporate communication strategy to more than 14,000 employees across nine locations.

George B. Hanna
Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Education

A native of Jamaica, W.I., George Hanna received his bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Miami where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. He also earned his law degree from the University of Miami School of Law where he graduated Cum Laude. Hanna is a member of the Hispanic National Bar Association and the State Bars of Iowa and Florida.

Career

George Hanna is the Executive Vice President for Wellmark, Inc., dba Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield. He joined Wellmark in August 2007, as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Business Ethics and Compliance Officer. He was subsequently appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer with overall accountability for the Legal Department, which includes Legal, Government Relations and Public Policy, Corporate Governance, Compliance and Privacy, Special Investigations, Audit Services and Performance Auditing.

In December 2010, Hanna was named Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer and in August 2011, was named Executive Vice President, assuming the leadership of Sales, Marketing, and Sales Operations for the Company.

Hanna had previously served as Interim Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, from August 2008 through March 2009 and was appointed to serve as the Corporate Secretary for Wellmark, Inc. and Wellmark of South Dakota, Inc. from December 2010 – March 2011.

Prior to joining Wellmark, Hanna was Associate General Counsel for AT&T, Inc. in Atlanta, GA, after its merger with BellSouth. During his 12-year career at BellSouth, he served in various roles, including Vice President & General Counsel for its Advertising & Publishing Group, its Intellectual Property Group, and its international operations.

Cory R. Harris

Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Education
Cory earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Iowa, and his Master of Business Administration and Juris Doctor degrees from Drake University where he graduated with high honors and Order of the Coif.

Career

Cory joined Wellmark in October 2011. As Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Cory is responsible for Wellmark’s Legal department, which includes Legal, Government Relations and Public Policy, Corporate Governance, Compliance and Privacy, Special Investigations, Audit Services and Performance Auditing.

Prior to joining Wellmark, Cory spent eleven years with Iowa’s largest law firm, Nyemaster Goode, P.C., representing various health insurance clients (including Wellmark) in areas such as provider agreements, antitrust, fraud and abuse, licensing, Medicare, Medicaid, HIPAA (privacy and security), compliance programs, and other legislative and regulatory issues. Cory also served as co-chair of Nyemaster’s hiring committee and was the firm’s primary contact person for Wellmark, assisting in the coordination of Wellmark’s overall legal services.

Patty L. Huffman
Vice President, Actuarial

Education
Patty Huffman received her bachelor of science degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and a Fellow, Life Management Institute.

Career
Huffman is the chief actuary at Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield. She is responsible for all actuarial activities, including financial IBNR reserves, financial forecasting, health care trends, new product pricing, medical care research, and maintaining policyholder enrollment data.

Laura Jackson
Executive Vice President, Health Care Strategy and Policy

Education
Laura Jackson received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Iowa State University, and a master's degree in human resource management from Marymount University in Arlington, Va.

Career

When Jackson joined the company in 2002, she served as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources.

In the fall of 2008, Jackson led the development of an expanded strategy to collaboratively build a sustainable health care system in our two states by 2014. This ultimately means that the average increase in health care costs for our members will be equal to the Consumer Price Index, a standard measure of inflation. This led to her appointment to Executive Vice President, Health Care Strategy and Policy. In this role, Jackson has responsibility for the management and compensation of the provider network, pharmacy, health and care management including wellness, health care analytics, and sustainability.

Prior to joining Wellmark in July of 2002, Jackson was second vice president of human resources at The Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, where she worked for four years. Before that, she worked in human resources at Professional Property Management, Inc., and Younkers, Inc., both in the Des Moines area, and at Michael Baker, Jr., Inc., and Short Brothers, Inc., both in Virginia.

Jackson is a current board member of the Wellness Council of Iowa and the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. She is also a past sub-committee member of the Iowa Business Council, and a former Salisbury House Foundation and Orchard Place Foundation board member.

Pranav Mehta
Vice President, Marketing and President and CEO, Wellmark Health Plan of Iowa

Education
A native of India, Pranav Mehta earned his Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Mumbai with a major in BioMedical Engineering. He also earned a Masters in Healthcare Administration from Cornell University. He is trained in Lean/Six Sigma and is a certified Project Management Professional.

Career
Pranav Mehta joined Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield in September 2010 as Vice President of Health Products. He earned additional responsibilities for all ancillary products and was appointed the President and CEO of the HMO Subsidiary, Wellmark Health Plan of Iowa in the fall of 2011. Pranav is accountable for the strategy, tactics and marketing programs for Wellmark. He also leads the company’s plans preparing for the changing healthcare landscape with reform and exchanges in 2014.

Pranav came to Wellmark from Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey. He started his career at Horizon as a Senior Project Manager. During his tenure at Horizon, he held various roles including Program Manager, Director of Product Administration, and Director of Service Operations.

Sandy J. Nelson
Vice President, Enterprise Portfolio Management

Education
Sandy Nelson has a degree in business administration and computer science.

Career
Nelson joined Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield in 1998, and was named vice president of Information Systems, Applications in 2000. She was responsible for Information Management, Electronic Commerce and various other corporate systems. Sandy moved into the role of vice president of Shared Services/PMO in August of 2005. During that time, Sandy was responsible for establishing Wellmark’s Project Management Office while also overseeing the Shared Services responsibilities. Sandy is currently vice president of Enterprise Portfolio Management including enterprise prioritization and strategic alignment, centralized project management and process excellence with a focus on Lean and Green outcomes.

Prior to joining Wellmark, Nelson was at the Principal Financial Group, where she held various positions in the Information Systems environment.

She serves on the board of the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society and also is on the Education Advisory Board for Grand View College.

Elaine M. Palmer
Vice President, Customer & Provider Service

Education
Elaine Palmer obtained her bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa.

Career
Palmer joined Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield in 1993 and has leadership responsibilities for customer and provider service, BlueCard^® inquiries, and Federal Employee Program operations. Palmer’s background includes 22 years of experience in health insurance, leading teams in both operations and information technology. Before joining Wellmark, she held various operations and information technology leadership positions for McNerney Heintz, Inc., most recently serving as vice president of management information systems specializing in integrated systems supporting managed health care and physician/clinic practice management. Palmer recently served as Vice President, Claims Administration, for Wellmark.

Tim Peterson
Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer

Education
Tim earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and his Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance, Strategic Management and Marketing from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management.

Career

Tim joined Wellmark in November 2011. As Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO), Tim is responsible for Wellmark’s Information Technology department and Enterprise Portfolio Management Office, which includes oversight of the Information Technology areas of application development, data warehousing, enterprise architecture, infrastructure and security, and the Enterprise Portfolio Management areas of enterprise program/project management, business planning and analysis, and quality assurance.

Prior to joining Wellmark, Tim spent nearly 12 years at UnitedHealth Group, where he was most recently CIO for its OptumHealth Care Solutions business, He also held various other leadership roles across UnitedHealth Group within the areas of enterprise data and analytics strategy; global IT operations/infrastructure; and information security. Earlier in his career, Tim worked in network architecture and information security at IBM.

Tim holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP^®) and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) designations.

Vicki Signor
Senior Vice President, Operations

Education
Signor graduated from William Penn University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

Career

Signor was appointed as Senior Vice President of Operations in August of 2011. She joined Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield in 1977. She has 33 years of health insurance experience leading teams in training, information technology, membership/enrollment, customer/provider service, claims, and supporting national account operations as BlueCard Executive and Director of Inter-Plan operations. She most recently served as the Vice President, Claims Administration.

Signor serves as the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association District IX and X Inter-Plan Chair and Section Chair for Claims, Customer Service, and Membership/Enrollment. In these roles, she works with Plan leadership to gather best practices, facilitate meetings, and prepare a report which is presented to the District IX and X Plan Presidents each year. She has served in this capacity since 2007 and has been appointed to continue in both leadership roles through 2014.

Signor graduated from William Penn University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and is enrolled in the Masters Program at the University of Iowa. She is a member of Holding Tiny Hands Board of Directors and is involved with several other charitable organizations.

Frank J. Stork
Vice President & Senior Counsel, Regulatory & Government Affairs, Board Secretary

Education
Frank Stork is a graduate of Loras College and the University of Iowa College of Law, where he served as Notes & Comments Editor of the Iowa Law Review. He also received a master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Iowa.

Career
Stork is responsible for developing, implementing and overseeing the company’s government relations program at the state and federal levels. Also, as a member of the legal staff, he provides legal support for the company’s public policy initiatives and other business areas. Stork joined Wellmark as a corporate officer in 2001.

Prior to joining Wellmark, Stork served as executive director of the Iowa Board of Regents. He also practiced law in Des Moines and was a partner/shareholder in both the Gamble & Davis and the Dickinson law firms. He has extensive experience in state government, including employment as director of state relations at the University of Iowa, Secretary of the Iowa Senate, and assistant attorney general in the Iowa Department of Justice. Stork has served on several public boards and commissions, including the Iowa Board of Regents, the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, the Iowa College Student Aid Commission, the State Board of Tax Review, and the Iowa Supreme Court Commission on Unauthorized Practice of Law. Stork is a member of the ChildServe Board of Directors and a former board member of Mentor Iowa.