WellPoint’s Darren Ghanayem Named a Computerworld 2013 Premier 100 IT Leader

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WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE: WLP) announced that Darren Ghanayem has been named a 2013 Premier 100 IT Leader. The 2013 Premier 100 IT Leaders Awards spotlight 100 leaders from both the technology and business sides of companies for their exceptional technology leadership, innovative approaches to business challenges and effectively managed IT strategies. This is the fourth year in a row that a WellPoint leader has been named to the list.

Ghanayem is WellPoint’s Information Technology vice president and information officer. He currently leads a large, diverse Information Technology department including WellPoint’s claims, membership, financial disbursement, pricing and product systems, and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). These systems collectively process 379 million medical claims, over 2.6 billion EDI transactions and disburse over $75 billion annually in support of WellPoint’s affiliated companies’ diverse member and provider customers throughout the country.

“Our team has risen to the challenge of consolidating multiple complex methodologies and systems obtained through mergers and acquisitions and has successfully created and implemented more efficient enterprise-wide solutions that are making a difference within WellPoint and throughout the health care industry,” said Ghanayem. “I am honored to be recognized as a Premier 100 Leader for a team that works daily to provide quality and value for our customers.”

WellPoint leaders previously honored with Premier 100 IT Leaders Awards include Lori Beer, executive vice president of Specialty Business and Information Technology, and Andrew J. Lang, senior vice president and chief information officer.

“The Premier 100 awards program showcases the exceptional work of a dedicated group of technology-savvy business leaders who are driving huge change in their organizations through IT,” said Scot Finnie, editor in chief of . “Every day, these exemplary business leaders make strategic technology decisions that track to their organizations' top priorities. These 100 men and women keep a keen eye on the changing landscape of political, economic, regulatory and technology trends that are driving significant shifts in IT. We are very pleased to recognize the leadership and honor the achievements of the 2013 Premier 100 honorees.”

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 more than 33 million people in our branded health plans, and approximately 64 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 California, Arizona and Nevada markets through our CareMore subsidiary. 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 .

Computerworld is the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide, providing peer perspective, IT leadership and business results. Computerworld's award-winning web site () bi-weekly publication, focused conference series and custom research forms the hub of the world's largest (40+ edition) global IT media network. Computerworld leads the industry with an online audience of over 3.5 million unique, monthly visitors (Omniture, August 2012). Computerworld is published by IDG Enterprise, a subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading media, events and research company. Company information is available at .

The Premier 100 program was created in 2000 to spotlight individuals who have had a positive impact on their organizations through technology. These are individuals who manage internal IT organizations, mentor and motivate their IT teams and business colleagues, create a positive work environment, envision innovative solutions to business challenges and effectively manage and execute IT strategies. Each year nominees are invited to complete a survey that addresses a number of topics, including their background and experience and their attitude toward risk and innovation. Using Computerworld’s IT Leader Index, which is a measurement of how closely an individual matches our definition of the IT Leader, we analyze the data. Each year, 100 honorees are selected to receive this life-time recognition award. Information on previous honorees can be viewed at: