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Women to Watch: 2007

Posted On: Apr. 7, 2009 10:23 AM CST

Jennifer Boehm

Jennifer Boehm


Principal-Health Management Consultant

Hewitt Associates Inc.

Atlanta

Age: 37

Jennifer Boehm joined Hewitt Associates about 10 years ago after being a corporate benefits manager. At Hewitt, she has worked on a range of projects in helping clients develop innovative strategies and designs for health care programs. Currently, Ms. Boehm, with academics at the University of Michigan and Harvard University, developed a model that will help employers quantify the cost impact of implementing a value-based health care plan design. She is a founding member of Hewitt's Health Care Policy Leadership Council and serves on Hewitt's Southeast Health Management Leadership Team.

Greatest influence: "Joanne Ayoub, director of organizational development at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She always has been there to offer advice and counsel and a good laugh when I needed it. I owe much of my success to her wisdom and guidance through the years."

Best professional advice: "Balance intuition and evaluation. Trust your instincts and then back them up with facts. That has been a guiding principal for me through the years."

Early aspirations: "I've always known that I wanted to do good and make a difference."


Angela Braly

Angela Braly


President and Chief Executive Officer

WellPoint Inc.

Indianapolis

Age: 45

A wealth of leadership and legal expertise readied Angela Braly for her current role as president and chief executive of WellPoint Inc., the nation's largest health plan in terms of membership. Ms. Braly--who helped lead WellPoint's integration with Anthem Networks and the acquisition of WellChoice--previously served as executive vp, general counsel and chief public affairs officer for WellPoint. She was CEO and president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri until she joined WellPoint in 2005, and prior to that was a partner in the law firm of Lewis, Rice & Fingersh L.C. in St. Louis.

Best professional advice: "To be myself...the whole issue of wearing your own shoes; don't step into anyone else's shoes, there is a reason you got to this position. One of the other pieces of advice I got is 'all roads cross more than once.' You are going to run into people in your life and career over and over. Be respectful."

Advice to young women: "Enjoy what you are doing. Know who you are, know why you are doing what you are doing. It has to be something meaningful to you."

Early aspirations: "Probably like every other young person, I probably wanted to be a fireman. At one time, I wanted to be a scientist. But I thought I would practice law forever. I was a partner in a law firm, I really didn't intend to be in health care and run a business. But ultimately, I had great, great opportunities along the way and I am very grateful."


Elaine Caprio Brady

Elaine Caprio Brady


Vp and Manager of Ceded Reinsurance Operations

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.

Boston

Age: 42

Elaine Caprio Brady is responsible for managing reinsurance placement and credit risk and establishing policies and procedures for reinsurance placement and contract administration, including reinsurer and broker relationships. Formerly, as the company's first senior corporate counsel, Ms. Brady advised Liberty Mutual departments worldwide that handled any combination of ceded or assumed facultative, treaty and retrocessional reinsurance. She handled arbitrations, analyzed coverage issues, drafted reinsurance-related contracts, negotiated reinsurance collections and commutations, and provided advice on insolvencies and schemes of arrangement.Ms. Brady is a member of the board of directors of

the AIDA Reinsurance and Insurance Arbitration Society-U.S., the Assn. of Insurance and Reinsurance Run-Off Cos., the Massachusetts Bar Assn. and the American Bar Assn.

Early aspirations: "I knew since I was 10 I wanted to be a lawyer. So, I knew in college I was going to law school. But my mother worked at Allendale Mutual when I was growing up, so I was very familiar with that insurance company, and it was a positive point of view of that insurance company. It's now FM Global. My very first law school job was working as a law clerk at Liberty Mutual in 1987, 20 years ago. It was at that point I decided I wanted to be in insurance and later working in reinsurance. From working as a law clerk at Liberty Mutual, I became involved very quickly in working on coverage decisions in environmental and pollution claims. It was a very exciting area in 1989. Later, I became involved in reinsurance in assisting the reinsurance department in collections."

Professional role model: "I have had many role models at Liberty Mutual, but one of the most recent is Kathryn Wynn. She was originally a colleague of mine in Liberty Mutual's environmental department, and later she advanced to general counsel of commercial markets. She provided an incredible amount of support and was a great sounding board.... She was my manager from 2004 to 2007. In that position, she, to me, exemplified an incredibly accomplished, strong, successful leader whom I personally emulate."

Advice to young women: "My advice would be to take advantage of any opportunity you have in your current role to expand your area of expertise and to develop relationships with co-workers, colleagues and mentors who can assist you with your career development."


Linda Chase-Jenkins

Linda Chase-Jenkins


Principal, Chief Operating Officer of the Enterprise Risk Management Practice

Towers Perrin

New York

Age: 39

Linda Chase-Jenkins has been chief operating officer of the enterprise risk management practice at Towers Perrin since 2005. She joined Towers Perrin in 1997 as a consultant and was named a principal in 2003. Between 2000 and 2003, she worked in Towers Perrin's London office consulting for multinational financial services companies. Before joining Towers Perrin, she was a vp at Citibank.

Advice to young women: "I would tell them that it is OK not to achieve perfect balance between professional and personal life all the time. Sometimes work demands will be the priority and other times it will be family. It takes time to build a career as well as a family and each requires give and take. Accept that life will feel out of balance at any given time and be prepared to shift the pendulum back to rebalance as necessary."

Professional role model: "My mother--who worked by choice at a time when few women worked outside the home. She taught me that you can do whatever you want as long as you enjoy it. My other role model was Richard Breeden, former chairman of the Securities & Exchange Commission and one of my former bosses. I learned from him how to focus on the critical issues of any project and to tackle it as efficiently and effectively as possible. I also learned from him not to take criticism personally."

Best professional advice: "I learned that everything you do is a reflection of your professionalism and influences perceptions of your credibility. For example, grammatical or calculation errors in your documents--even internal drafts--will raise questions about the validity or quality of your conclusions."


Priya Cherian Huskins

Priya Cherian Huskins


Partner and Senior Vp

Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

San Francisco

Within one year of her arrival in 2003, Priya Cherian Huskins became a partner at Woodruff-Sawyer & Co., a full-service insurance brokerage and consulting firm headquartered in San Francisco, and the first female minority partner in Woodruff-Sawyer's 89-year history. Working mostly with the firm's directors and officers liability insurance clients on issues of loss control and risk management, her expertise in D&O liability issues has gained national recognition over the past four years with speaking engagements worldwide and articles in various industry publications such as the International Journal of Disclosure and Governance.

One thing to change: "If our industry were to eliminate contingent commissions, we could continue the industry's current trend toward further transparency and integrity. This would enhance every insurance broker's ability to be seen as a professional who works exclusively on behalf of his or her clients."

Best professional advice: "Never approach your client with a mere description of a problem; bring a solution with you as well."

Advice to young women: "Be excellent in your work, work with integrity, and always keep your client in mind. Also, find a place to work that understands that a fierce commitment to professional excellence and deep concern for employees' well-being are not mutually exclusive."

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