WellPoint Appoints Two New Presidents to Oversee Senior Services and D

WellPoint Appoints Two New Presidents to Oversee Senior Services and Dental Operations

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    THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 15, 2005--WellPoint, Inc. (NYSE:WLP), the nation's largest health benefits company, announced today that it has hired Susan E. Rawlings as president, Senior Services and Derek S. Bridges as president, WellPoint Dental. Rawlings is responsible for all the senior business including operations, Medicare Advantage products and marketing plans for seniors for several of WellPoint's brands. Bridges is responsible for the development of dental programs and the delivery of dental products to WellPoint's various brands and business units. Both replace individuals who have recently retired.
    "With a wealth of executive management experience between them, Susan and Derek's expertise will serve the company well," said Joan Herman, president and CEO of WellPoint's Senior, Specialty and State Sponsored Programs Businesses. "Both are tremendous assets to our team as we work to further strengthen our presence in the marketplace."
    Rawlings has held several notable positions in the industry. Previously, Rawlings was the vice president and head of retiree markets, and retiree strategy for Aetna Inc. where she had profit and loss accountability for their Medicare Advantage business and led the retiree strategy development across the enterprise. Before that, she was market president at Amerigroup Corporation in Texas and PacifiCare's Southwest Region vice president of Secure Horizons.
    Prior to joining WellPoint, Bridges served as president and chief executive officer of Delta Dental of Kansas. During his 2001-2004 tenure at Delta, the company doubled its business, moving from fourth to first in overall market share for the state. Bridges began his career with U.S. Health Care in New York. After U.S. Health Care merged with Aetna, he served in multiple management roles including general manager for the Kansas City market.
    Rawlings earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration from the University of Arizona and is a certified public accountant.
    Bridges holds a bachelor of arts degree in business administration from Fordham University, New York and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Kansas. He is currently pursuing a master's of technology management degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

    WellPoint, Inc. is the largest publicly traded commercial health benefits company in terms of membership in the United States. WellPoint, Inc. is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and serves its 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, Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and through HealthLink and UniCare. Additional information about WellPoint is available at www.wellpoint.com.

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CONTACT: WellPoint, Inc. Lisa Mee-Stephenson, 805-557-6790

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