(Top: L to R) Jeff Spahr, Nick Brecker
and (bottom) Greg Fox of WellPoint, Inc.

INDIANAPOLIS— WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE:WLP) has restructured the executive team responsible for its specialty business. Jeff Spahr has been named vice president of specialty businesses, Nicholas (Nick) Brecker has been appointed vice president of specialty sales, Greg Fox has been named vice president of specialty strategy and information technology, and Dani Fjelstad will continue as president of dental. All four will report to Pam Kehaly, president of WellPoint’s specialty business, commercial strategy and west region.

“The depth and breadth of knowledge and experience all four individuals bring to the specialty leadership team is what sets us apart from our competitors and drives us to set new standards of excellence in the marketplace and the overall industry,” said Kehaly. “I know the strength of this team will ensure continued success for our Specialty business for years to come.”

Spahr, recently vice president for WellPoint’s vision and voluntary business and president for life and disability, will be responsible for the strategy and growth of WellPoint’s vision, life, disability, workers’ compensation and voluntary businesses, as well as for the clinical integration strategy throughout the company’s specialty business. He has been with the company since 2001 and has worked in a number of roles in planning and development, finance and specialty. Since 2006, he has led the growth of the vision business and has introduced market-leading clinical capabilities that integrate vision and medical data together to improve health outcomes.

Previously WellPoint’s specialty market president and interim specialty sales vice president, Brecker will lead WellPoint’s specialty sales organization and drive profitable growth in the vision, dental, life and disability businesses. He will also develop strategic plans that ensure the specialty business is well-positioned competitively and provide input to the product and pricing strategies by market. With WellPoint since 2004, Brecker has had a variety of positions within the specialty organization, including president of life and disability, as well as the leader in California and local group business sales/account management.

Fox was previously staff vice president of WellPoint’s strategy, planning and information technology and chief of staff for specialty. He will now be responsible for aligning strategic planning, information technology and business change management, and applying best practices throughout the specialty business. With the company since 1985, he has served in numerous leadership positions in areas including operations, marketing and product, IT, comprehensive health services, third party administration, change management, migrations, business analysis and support and finance. Fox is a certified health care insurance executive and fellow with America’s Health Insurance Plans Foundation.

Other changes within WellPoint’s Specialty business organization include John Thorp being named staff vice president of WellPoint’s vision business, Collette Manning joining the specialty business team as clinical integration strategy director, Wendy Shaw returning as administrative integration director, and Amanda Vincent joining specialty business as specialty exchanges director. Thorp and Manning will report to Spahr, while Shaw and Vincent will report to Fox.