Blue Shield of California CIO Joins CTO Forum's CIO Council Advisory Board

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Feb 10, 2010, 09:07 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The CTO Forum today announced that Blue Shield of California's senior vice president and chief information officer, Elinor MacKinnon, has been appointed to its CIO Council Advisory Board. The CIO Council brings together senior information technology executives from leading organizations to foster discussion and collaboration regarding the advancement of technology and innovation within organizations.

"We are pleased to welcome Elinor to the CIO Council Advisory Board," said Basheer Janjua, founding-Chair and President of the CTO Forum and CEO of Integnology Corporation. "With over 25 years of IT infrastructure and software management experience, Elinor brings a depth of industry knowledge, and financial services and health & life sciences IT expertise to the CIO Council."

MacKinnon joined Blue Shield of California in 2004 and has responsibility for all areas of the technology business, including eCommerce, Electronic Data Interchange, portfolio management, and operations. Prior to Blue Shield, MacKinnon held senior management posts at Chiron Corporation (now Novartis) and Charles Schwab. She has also chaired many large regulatory compliance efforts including T+3, Decimalization, 5010 and ICD-10, and sits on the Strategic Advisory Council for TriCipher, Mokafive and the Advisory Board of the Fisher Center for the Management of Information Technology.

"At Blue Shield of California, ensuring our IT systems are up-to-date and innovative is essential to delivering on our commitment to making healthcare coverage easier and more affordable," said MacKinnon. "I am honored to join the CIO Council Advisory Board and look forward to collaborating with other leaders to help maximize the use of new technologies and bring innovation."

About the CIO Council

A community dedicated to senior IT leaders and visionaries, The CIO Council provides a non-commercial, exclusive, and collaborative environment for its members to discover, debate and develop breakthrough solutions to business challenges. Through engaging dialogue, deep dives, and workshops, members of the CIO Council uncover the most effective and deficient ways to apply these critical IT advances with a focus on supporting legacy and next-generation business models.

About the CTO Forum

The CTO Forum, which is a mother platform for the CIO Council, is a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering a trusted, open and creative environment where the brightest minds of our times convene to address the industry's most important issues. The CTO Forum brings together the best minds in the technology from different industries to define opportunities, and to collaborate in harnessing the extraordinary potential of technology. The CTO Forum's mission is to deliver a Global Innovation Platform, where technology leaders collaborate and co-create the technology and solutions that will be critical to meeting tomorrow's global opportunities and challenges. For more information, visit www.thectoforum.net.

About Blue Shield of California

Blue Shield of California, an independent member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, is a not-for-profit health plan dedicated to providing Californians with access to high quality care at a reasonable price. Founded in 1939, it now has 3.4 million members, 4,800 employees, one of the largest provider networks and more than 20 office locations, providing a wide range of commercial and government products throughout the state. The company has contributed $100 million over the past three years to the Blue Shield of California Foundation to fund nonprofit organizations that improve access to quality health care in California. For more information, visit the Blue Shield web site at www.blueshieldca.com.