Schaeffer accolades not just limited to greater Valley area. (Best Companies in the Valley--A Special Report).RUMOR has it when employees at WellPoint Health Networks Inc. in Calabasas arched into a budget meeting a couple of years back sporting fatigues and war paint, they were met with cheers of support by the company's chairman and chief executive officer, Leonard D. Schaeffer. Business Week Magazine has dubbed Schaeffer a "health-care warrior" and, topped a 2001 profile on him with this headline: "Leonard the Giant Killer giant killer n (SPORT) → matagigantes m inv giant killer n (Sport) → équipe inconnue qui remporte un match contre une équipe renommée ?" But as much as he is known for his willingness to do battle with just about anyone who stands in his way, Schaeffer has also earned a reputation for being one of the country's most successful CEOs. In addition to the Business Journal's award for Best Business Executive in the greater San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , Schaeffer has twice appeared on Business Week's list of top 25 managers in the country. He is also a former finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year award for the health care company category, and made the top 50 CEOs list by Worth Magazine. Schaeffer was hired in 1986 to take over the helm of what was then Blue Cross of California, which was losing roughly $165 million a year. He launched a fierce slash-and-burn restructuring campaign beginning with the elimination of 3,000 jobs and a restructuring of the Blue product line and today is credited for having steered the company through one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the history of the industry. The company, now WellPoint, is the second largest publicly traded health care firm in the country with roughly 17,000 employees and is considered the most profitable arm of the Blue line. While many of the larger healthcare firms have stumbled in their efforts to expand, under Schaeffer's guidance and cost-cutting tactics, WellPoint has completed several successful takeovers, most recently a $906 million merger with Milwaukee-based Cobalt Corp., parent firm of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Blue Shield A US not-for-profit health care insurer that is a reimbursement intermediary for physicians. Cf Blue Cross. United of Wisconsin. Perhaps one of Schaeffer's most highly acclaimed and criticized steps came in 2001 when he took on the Food and Drug Administration with a petition to make the allergy medications Claritin, Allegra Al·leg·ra A trademark for the drug fexofenadine hydrochloride. fexofenadine hydrochloride Allegra, Telfast (UK) Pharmacologic class: Peripherally selective piperidine, selective histamine and Zyrtec available over the counter -- a move, which has been approved by the FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. , that he calculated would save WellPoint roughly $90 million a year. The 57-year-old Chicago native has also served as the director of the Illinois Bureau of the Budget and administrator of the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration Health Care Financing Administration, n.pr department in the U.S. agency of Health and Human Services responsible for the oversight of the Medicaid and Medicare benefit programs, including guidelines, payment, and coverage policies. under President Jimmy Carter. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Princeton University Princeton University, at Princeton, N.J.; coeducational; chartered 1746, opened 1747, rechartered 1748, called the College of New Jersey until 1896. Schools and Research Facilities and enjoys hot air balloon This article is about hot air balloons themselves. For the associated activity, see Hot air ballooning. The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology, dating back to its invention by the Montgolfier brothers in Annonay, rides. |
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