PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Independence Blue Cross (IBC) today announced that William F. Haggett is the organization’s new Chief Marketing Executive.
Haggett currently serves as the President and CEO of IBC subsidiary AmeriHealth New Jersey. He succeeds Christopher Butler, who became IBC’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 2005. Most recently, Haggett has led IBC’s corporate-wide strategic planning effort, which began last year. In his new position as Chief Marketing Executive, Haggett will report to Butler and oversee new business sales, account management, product development and marketing.
“Bill has proven himself to be an outstanding leader during his 16 years at Independence Blue Cross,” said Joseph A. Frick, IBC President and CEO. “In our highly competitive and demanding market, Bill will bring strategic vision, health care expertise, and customer focus to this critical marketing role and further strengthen our efforts to address the most important issues in health care: access and affordability.”
“Bill’s strong experience ensures that Independence Blue Cross will continue to lead the way in developing innovative products and providing the highest level of service to address ever-changing customer needs,” said COO Christopher Butler. “Bill will spearhead the team developing our product portfolio offering flexible, easy-to-understand, progressive and affordable options.”
As President and CEO at AmeriHealth since 2003, Haggett has been responsible for a company that insures more than 260,000 New Jersey residents and maintains a network of over 150 hospitals and 25,000 physicians and other health care providers. He successfully launched a strategic plan and developed a broad array of new products and services, including a disease management program, which was expanded to the entire IBC organization.
Before he assumed the leadership position at AmeriHealth, Haggett, 54, was IBC’s Senior Vice President for Government Programs and served as the president of the company’s Caring Foundation for Children. He was active in the Pennsylvania Blues’ involvement with the State of Pennsylvania in structuring the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a free and low- cost state and federally funded health insurance program for uninsured children. CHIP is administered in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties by IBC’s Caring Foundation.
Prior to joining Independence Blue Cross, Haggett directed corporate affairs at Pennsylvania Blue Shield and served as vice president of administration and external affairs at Community College of Philadelphia. He was also a policy advisor to former Philadelphia Mayor Bill Green.
Haggett holds a doctorate in Public and Urban Education Policy from Temple University. Haggett also earned an MS degree in Research Methods and Statistics and a BS degree in Psychology from Southern Connecticut State University.
Independence Blue Cross is the leading health insurer in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Nationwide, IBC and its affiliates provide coverage to nearly 3.4 million people. For more than 65 years, Independence Blue Cross has offered quality health care products and services tailored to meet the changing needs of members, employers, groups and providers.
Independence Blue Cross recently received the highest ratings from the National Committee for Quality Assurance for its HMO and PPO health care plans. In addition, in 2005, Independence Blue Cross’s Personal Choice was rated the No. 1 PPO in the nation and its Keystone HMO was ranked the No. 1 HMO in the region by health care consumers in a leading independent consumer magazine.
For more information on Independence Blue Cross, visit our website at http://www.ibx.com.
Independence Blue Cross
CONTACT: Liz Williams of Independence Blue Cross, +1-215-241-2220
Web site: http://www.ibx.com/
