Board of Trustees and Executive Staff 

Blue Cross operates under the governance and guidance of a 11-member corporate board of trustees, composed of some of Minnesota’s most accomplished and diverse leaders in the business, nonprofit and health care communities. Read about board members below or see our Board of Trustees book (PDF).

Blue Cross’ Board of Trustees includes:

Vance K. Opperman, Esq., chair, president and chief executive officer, Key Investment, Inc. | details

Hugh C. Smith, M.D., vice chair, secretary, (retired) professor of Internal Medicine and Cardiology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine | details

Benjamin R. Field, III, treasurer, (retired) senior financial advisor,
Bemis Company Inc. | details

Kathleen A. Blatz, Esq., (retired) Chief Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court | details

Walter T. Chesley, senior vice president, human resources, training & development | details

Judi H. Dutcher, executive director, Bentson Foundation | details

William F. Farley, principal, Livingston Capital | details

Kevin R. Green, managing partner, TripleTree | details

Rita J. Heise, corporate vice president and chief information officer, Cargill | details

Jan K. Malcolm, chief executive officer, Courage Center | details

James T. Porter, (retired) executive vice president and chief administrative officer, Carlson | details

Pamela A. Wheelock, interim president and chief executive officer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota | details

About the Board of Trustees

The board sees its role as assuring that it fulfills its purpose as a nonprofit health service plan corporation. The board also assures that the organization works with its various stakeholders: members, regulators, legislators, providers and the general public. Board members strive to set an example of integrity for nonpublic companies.

The board has adopted a number of financial “best practices” relating to governance, including:

  • The audit, governance and human resources committees are composed of only outside directors who have no material financial relationships with Blue Cross. This requirement is more stringent than that required by Sarbanes-Oxley, by which Blue Cross has decided to voluntarily comply.
  • The audit committee is composed of individuals with significant financial expertise
  • The outside auditor does not provide Blue Cross with any general consulting services
  • A special hotline for concerns, questions and reports of potential accounting and audit violations has been established for use by employees