Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia Names Caroline Matthews President; John Watts Appointed President and CEO of New WellPoint National Accounts Unit.

ATLANTA -- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia (BCBSGa), an operating unit of WellPoint, Inc., today announced the appointment of Caroline (Caz) Matthews as president. She joins the Georgia plan after successfully serving as president of Anthem West, which included Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Colorado and Nevada.

Matthews replaces John Watts, former president of BCBSGa, who was promoted to president of the parent company's national accounts division. Larry C. Glasscock, president and CEO of WellPoint, Inc., praised both Watts and Matthews in his announcement.

The announcements follow the November 30 merger between Anthem and WellPoint Health Networks that formed the new parent company, WellPoint, Inc.

"John Watts led Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia to extraordinary growth in all of its products and maintained recognized excellence in customer service and hospital and physician relations," said Glasscock. "During his tenure, medical membership topped 3.2 million members."

Glasscock continued, "With the merger of WellPoint and Anthem to form WellPoint, Inc., the largest and leading health benefits company in the nation, John's appointment will enhance our already successful national accounts sales and service efforts."

The national accounts business unit serves WellPoint's largest Blue Cross and Blue Shield multi-state employers (5,000 members or more), whose 6 million customers represent the fastest growing segment of the company's membership.

"My first priority is to provide distinctive service and health benefits solutions to our national accounts customers," said Watts. "I look forward to leading a talented group of associates who are committed to outperforming all competitors in providing quality health benefits and great value. We'll be working hard to improve health, manage costs, introduce innovative products, and deliver world-class, distinctive service to our customers."

BCBSGa's new leader, Caz Matthews, joined Anthem West in 2000 as chief operating officer. Her energetic and community-based leadership led Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado to No. 1 in market share and a No. 2 market position for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nevada, and she then became president of Anthem West.

She was recognized for her business and community leadership in 2002 by the Denver Business Journal as the Outstanding Woman in Business and this year she was selected by the same publication as CEO of the Year.

Matthews began with Anthem in 1988. In 1992, she was transferred to an Anthem subsidiary, Acordia of the South based in Atlanta, and served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer. After her work in Atlanta, she returned to Anthem headquarters in Indiana as vice president of operations for the information technology division and later served as co-chief information officer before assuming her duties at Anthem West.

Matthews said, "Having lived in Atlanta for several years, prior to my move to Denver, I must say coming back to this vibrant city feels a bit like coming home. In my new position as president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, I look forward to building on the foundation of excellence laid by John Watts and his staff and continuing to deliver distinctive service to our members."

In appointing Matthews, Glasscock praised her business acumen and her community involvement, "I know that she will bring to Georgia the same energy, sound judgment, and commitment to customer service that she superbly demonstrated at Anthem West."

"I am very excited about WellPoint's future," said Glasscock. "Caz and John are a big part of WellPoint's vision to transform health care for our 28 million members. By sharing and adopting best practices to increase customer value and leveraging our scale to manage costs, WellPoint will be better able to provide quality and affordable health care benefits to our customers."

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia (BCBSGa) serves more than 3.2 million medical members and is the oldest and largest health benefits company in Georgia. Blue Cross Blue Shield is an operating subsidiary of WellPoint, Inc. As the nation's largest publicly traded commercial health benefits company, WellPoint serves the health care needs of approximately 28 million medical members nationally. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and can be found on the web at www.bcbsga.com