Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota names Tom Vanderheyden as President of Diversified Business

(Eagan, Minnesota) February 6, 2017 — Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that Tom Vanderheyden has joined the organization’s senior leadership team as president of diversified business. In this new position, Vanderheyden oversees all strategies for expanding diversified businesses investments, bringing new health care products and solutions to market, and commercializing existing products and services.

Vanderheyden brings more than two decades of leadership experience in business development and health care innovation to Blue Cross. Most recently, he served as chief executive officer at Harken Health Insurance Company (Harken Health), an independently operated affiliate of UnitedHealth Group (UHG). Prior to Harken Health, Vanderheyden held multiple leadership roles within UHG, including business development and innovation; UnitedHealth International; global operations; strategic sourcing; and mergers and acquisitions.

“Tom’s record of accelerating business growth and identifying new ways to deliver health care made him the right leader to complement and supplement the health plan products that we have been offering to Minnesotans for more than 80 years,” said Michael Guyette, Blue Cross president and CEO. “With business diversification being a significant focus of our strategic plan, I know that Tom and his teams are well-positioned to help us deliver even greater value to members and clients.”

Vanderheyden holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational management and communications from Concordia University and an MBA in global management from the University of Phoenix.

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

For more than 90 years, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (bluecrossmn.com) has supported the health, wellbeing and peace of mind of our members by striving to ensure equitable access to high quality care at an affordable price. We are on a mission to inspire change, transform care and improve health for the people and communities we serve by reinventing both ourselves and the broader system. Our more than 2.5 million members can be found in every Minnesota county, all 50 states and on four continents. As a proud nonprofit organization, we believe working to advance wellness for all Minnesotans is the greatest investment we can make. Our goal is nothing less than for everyone to be able to achieve their full health potential, regardless of race or other socially defined circumstances. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, which serves more than 107 million members across the U.S.