WellPoint Names Patrick Blair Chief Marketing Officer

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP) announced today that Patrick Blair has been named senior vice president and chief marketing officer. In this role, Blair will be responsible for leading all marketing initiatives and partnering with WellPoint’s leadership team to drive profitable growth across all WellPoint’s business segments including Commercial, Medicare, Medicaid and Specialty.

“Patrick’s leadership and experience in both government and employer-sponsored health care will be a great asset to our company and will help position us for continued success in the changing health care marketplace, especially as we engage more directly with consumers”

Blair is an industry veteran who has more than 15 years experience and a proven track record of success in corporate strategy, sales, marketing and product development. He most recently served as chief marketing and development officer for Amerigroup Corporation, which was recently acquired by WellPoint, where he was responsible for identifying, evaluating and directing the company’s growth investments as well as formulating and implementing strategic business development initiatives. He has held several senior leadership positions at Amerigroup and has extensive management consulting experience with the nation’s top health insurers and provider organizations in the areas of business unit strategy, growth strategy, product development, process improvement and post-merger integration.

“Patrick’s leadership and experience in both government and employer-sponsored health care will be a great asset to our company and will help position us for continued success in the changing health care marketplace, especially as we engage more directly with consumers,” said Ken Goulet, executive vice president of Commercial and Individual business for WellPoint.

Blair received his bachelor’s degree in economics and master’s degree in health administration from Indiana University. He also holds a master’s degree in business administration from Henley Business School at the University of Reading in Oxfordshire, England.

About WellPoint, Inc.

At WellPoint, we believe there is an important connection between our members’ health and well-being—and the value we bring our customers and shareholders. So each day we work to improve the health of our members and their communities. And, we can make a real difference since we have approximately 36 million people in our affiliated health plans, and approximately 66 million people served through our subsidiaries. As an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, WellPoint serves members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, New York (as the Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in 10 New York City metropolitan and surrounding counties and as the Blue Cross or Blue Cross Blue Shield licensee in selected upstate counties only), Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), and Wisconsin. In a majority of these service areas, WellPoint’s plans do business as Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia and Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, or Empire Blue Cross (in the New York service areas). WellPoint also serves customers throughout the country as UniCare and in certain markets through our Amerigroup and CareMore subsidiaries. Our 1-800 CONTACTS, Inc. subsidiary offers customers online sales of contact lenses, eyeglasses and other ocular products. Additional information about WellPoint is available at www.wellpoint.com.