WellPoint Ranked 7th in Diversity MBA Magazine's Best Places for Diverse Managers to Work

INDIANAPOLIS, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP) is pleased to announce that the company has been ranked 7th by Diversity MBA Magazine in its rankings of the "50 Out Front for Diversity Leadership: Best Places for Diverse Managers To Work," which is included in its spring issue due to hit the newsstands and international distribution in late April 2010.  

"WellPoint is honored by this recognition, which we think reflects our long-standing commitment to a diverse and vibrant workforce," said Linda Jimenez, Chief Diversity Officer and vice president, Diversity & Inclusion, WellPoint, Inc. "WellPoint continues to innovate and implement diversity and inclusion policies that expand opportunities for our associates and improves the service we provide to our customers.  WellPoint takes pride in developing a talented and diverse workforce that is in the best position to accomplish our mission of improving the lives of the people we serve and the health of our communities."

Pam McElvane, publisher/CEO, says, "The companies on our list truly have a desire to have diversity in their culture, belief structure and environment throughout their organizations.  Our ultimate outcome is to recognize companies that are really making a difference in their organizations to promote, develop and engage people of color and women in the executive ranks. We want to know if they truly have programs and have made progress to getting this work done. My ultimate goal is to establish the metrics for best practices that companies can compare themselves to, to either keep improving on what they are doing well and change what is not making any significant impact."

Diversity MBA Magazine is a niche publication targeting people of color and women in leadership, professionals, students, and the business community.  Diversity MBA Magazine expanded its research evaluations in its ranking of the 2010 "50 Out Front Companies" list to include companies that implement intentional strategies based on accountability, succession planning, representation, retention, and recruitment systems that allow and encourage managers and women of diverse backgrounds to excel and develop into leadership roles.

Diversity MBA Magazine provides research reports on diversity benchmarks for talent retention, industry diversity programs, and performance in the diversity arena through its partnership with DePaul University. The magazines distributed at newsstands, top business schools, professional and business associations domestically, and 30 countries worldwide through QS Top MBA World Tour.

Published quarterly, Diversity MBA Magazine reaches more than 200,000 subscribers. For more information, please visit http://www.diversitymbamagazine.com/

About WellPoint, Inc.

WellPoint works to simplify the connection between Health, Care and Value. We help to improve the health of our communities, deliver better care to members, and provide greater value to our customers and shareholders. WellPoint is the nation's largest health benefits company, with more than 33 million members in its affiliated health plans. 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 does business as Anthem Blue Cross, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield or Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield (in the New York service areas).  WellPoint also serves customers throughout the country as UniCare.  Additional information about WellPoint is available at www.wellpoint.com.

SOURCE WellPoint, Inc.