Blue Cross Names New Officers in Service, Finance

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

Nov 21, 2011, 10:55 ET

Anthony Marichal and Michael McGuire to lead Client Services; Ernest Valente named vice president of Health Economics

EAGAN, Minn., Nov. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced the appointments of three new officers: Anthony Marichal is vice president of Client Services with a focus on operational support; while Michael McGuire is a Client Services vice president responsible for customer-facing business processes. Ernest Valente, Ph.D. is vice president of Health Economics in the Finance Division; his group provides analytical insights that enable improved health outcomes and healthcare affordability.

About Anthony Marichal
As a vice president of Client Services, Anthony Marichal is responsible for claims operations, benefit coding, electronic interface service, and the incoming correspondence service center. An experienced leader in multi-site and multi-project call center and operational management, Marichal was most recently at WellPoint, Inc., in Indianapolis as regional vice president of national account operations. He holds a bachelor's degree from Indiana University and is a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt.

About Michael McGuire
Michael McGuire comes to Blue Cross from United Health Group, where he was vice president of operations in the OptumHealth division. In his role as vice president of Client Services, McGuire is responsible for client-facing, service-related functions, including membership enrollment, billing, contact centers, contact center data, operational reporting, and analytics. His oversight also includes quality, training, project management and process improvement initiatives. McGuire's operations leadership experience also includes tenures at US Bank and CBCA, Inc. He is a Certified Executive Six Sigma Black Belt, and is listed in Montclair Publishing's "Who's Who of North America" for achievements in organizational transformation. McGuire earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Minnesota State Mankato.

About Ernest Valente, Ph.D.
As vice president of Health Economics, Ernest Valente leads a team focused on delivering health analytics that promote high quality health outcomes and affordable care for members. He recently served as the vice president of Medical Informatics at Blue Shield of California in San Francisco, and has also held leadership positions at the Pacific Business Group on Health and at the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Dr. Valente earned his master's and doctorate degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, with headquarters in the St. Paul suburb of Eagan, was chartered in 1933 as Minnesota's first health plan and continues to carry out its charter mission today as a health company: to promote a wider, more economical and timely availability of health services for the people of Minnesota. Blue Cross is a not-for-profit, taxable organization. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, headquartered in Chicago. Go to bluecrossmn.com to learn more about Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

SOURCE Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota