AzBlue.com Profiles

As president and chief executive officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ), Richard L. Boals provides his strategic vision and expertise to the state's leading health insurer.

Boals joined BCBSAZ in 1971 and has served in a variety of capacities, seeing the company through numerous years of stability and success. Prior to his appointment to chief executive officer in April 2003, Boals served as president and chief operating officer.

Boals is a member of the board of directors for BCBSAZ, as well as for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and TriWest Healthcare Alliance, an organization dedicated to meeting the health care needs of our military. As part of his Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association board responsibilities, he is on the Audit Committee and the Interplan Program Committee. In addition, Boals serves as president and board member of CSA General Insurance Agency Inc., a BCBSAZ subsidiary.

His commitments don't end there: Boals is also active in the community, and has been involved with countless professional and local organizations. He chooses to be aligned with Arizona organizations that focus on youth and education, health, wellness and human services, economic and civic development, and arts and culture.

Boals is on the board of directors for Greater Phoenix Leadership, the acclaimed Translational Genomics Research Institute, the ASU W.P. Carey School of Business Center for Services Leadership, the ASU President's Club, the ASU Dean's Council of 100 and the Arthritis Foundation Greater Southwest Chapter. He is a member of the Arizona Educational Foundation's Advisory Board, Body Positive Advisory Board and the Assistance League Advisory Committee. Boals is the immediate past chairman of the board of directors for the Maricopa Community College Foundation. He also serves on the Arizona Health-e Connection Board of Directors.

Currently, Boals is working with the Salvation Army as their Capital Campaign Committee Chairman and with the United Way as a member of the Campaign Cabinet.

In the past, Boals has served as the past chairman of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, past chairman of the Arthritis Foundation Greater Southwest Chapter, a charter member and chairman of the Governor's Council on Quality, chairman of the board of the Arizona Quality Alliance, chairman of the Arizona Affordable Health Care Foundation, chairman of Drugs Don't Work in Arizona, chairman of Teach for America, and president and chairman of the World Affairs Council. He also served as a board member for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, the Grand Canyon Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Governor's Brown Cloud Summit.

Awards recognizing Boals' role as a community and business leader include the ASU Alumni Leadership Award, and the American Jewish Committee's National Human Relations and Centennial Leadership Awards. He has also received recognition for his associate's contributions to the Kidney Foundation and Arizona's Children Association. The Business Journal Phoenix added Boals to its Silver Anniversary Honor Roll, which recognizes leaders whose work in the Valley over the past 25 years has left a lasting impact and value for all.

Boals received his associate's degree from Phoenix College and bachelor's degree in accounting from Arizona State University. He has completed executive development courses at Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, Haas School of Business at the University of California, Harvard University and University of Michigan. Boals served four years in the United States Air Force before beginning his career at BCBSAZ.

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As executive vice president of external operations for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCSAZ), Sandra Gibson oversees BCBSAZ's actuarial, strategy and informatics; health services; sales, marketing, government relations and provider affairs; and underwriting departments.

Gibson has been with BCBSAZ since 1988. Sandy began her BCBSAZ career as an analyst and has been promoted to Manager, Director, Vice President, Chief Actuary, Senior Vice President Strategy and Business Informatics, and most recently Executive Vice President External Operations.

Her community and professional affiliations include past president of the Arizona Actuarial club, membership in the American Academy of Actuaries, and Associate in the Society of Actuaries. She was appointed by the Governor of Arizona to the Statewide Health Care System Task Force. She served as a member of the Technical Advisory Committee to the AHCCCS HRSA State Planning Grant and Arizona Legislative Statewide Health Care Insurance Plan Task Force. She serves as a member on the Board of Directors of the Phoenix Symphony, the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. She was a member of Class XXV of the Valley Leadership Institute.

Gibson graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor's degree in education.

As executive vice president of internal operations, Susan H. Navran is responsible for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona's (BCBSAZ) corporate services, administration, finance, treasury, information technology and claims services departments.

Navran has been a respected attorney in Arizona for almost 30 years. Before joining BCBSAZ as vice president of legal services in 1995, Navran was a shareholder in the law firm Sacks Tierney, P.A. in Scottsdale, Ariz. Prior to moving to the Valley, she served as a staff attorney for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Navran serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Children's Action Alliance, a children's advocacy organization. She is a former member of the Board of the YWCA of Maricopa County. She is a past president of Arizona Women's Education and Employment, a nonprofit agency that provides support, placement, life-management and job-readiness courses for individuals seeking employment. Navran is also a member of Charter 100, serves on the Arizona Community Foundation's Advisory Board for Early Childhood Education and the Arizona State Bar Association's Committee on Minorities and Diversity.

Navran is a member of the American Bar Association and Arizona Health Lawyer's Association, of which she is a former director. She is past president of the Arizona Association of HMOs. Navran received the Affordable Housing Pro Bono award from the Arizona Bar Association for legal services to reduce homelessness. She was recently selected as a "Super Lawyer” in the health care category for the Southwest.

Navran earned her law degree, magna cum laude, from Arizona State University after receiving her bachelor's degree from Bucknell University.

As senior vice president and chief financial officer, Tony Astorga is responsible for the following Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ) departments: Business Development, Enrollment Services, Facilities, Finance, General Services Administration, Group Underwriting, Investment Management, Medicare, Risk Management, Support Operations, Tax Management, and Work Management.

Astorga confers and works directly with the respective departmental vice presidents, directors and managers in administrating the operations of the corporation and its subsidiaries.

Astorga also works directly with the president and chief executive officer on the development of long-range plans and policies for BCBSAZ and its subsidiaries. In addition, he serves as treasurer and board member of CSA General Insurance Agency and CSA Enterprises, two BCBSAZ subsidiaries. From 1994-1999, he was president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mexico.

Astorga joined BCBSAZ in 1988 as senior vice president and treasurer. Prior to joining the company, he was a partner in the firm of Astorga, Maurseth & Co., P.C., a local certified public accounting firm with offices in Phoenix and Scottsdale. Astorga served on the BCBSAZ board of directors from 1981-1988.

Astorga received his bachelor's degree in accounting with high honors from Arizona State University. He has also attended executive education programs at Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and Graduate Center for Health Professions at the University of California in San Francisco.

He is currently president of the board of directors for Phoenix Art Museum Endowment Fund, and treasurer of the board of directors for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona Subsidiaries, Valley of the Sun United Way and Phoenix Art Museum. He is also a member of the board of directors for the Boy Scouts of America-Grand Canyon Council, Sun Healthcare Group, Inc., and Valley of the Sun United Way Foundation. In addition, he is currently serving, or has recently served, in community leadership roles as co-chair of the Governor's Film and Television Commission, Governor's Citizens Finance Review Commission, and Maricopa Community Colleges' ACE Campaign Cabinet.

He is a member of the Arizona Academy, Arizona-Mexico Commission, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants, Delta Sigma Pi Alumni Business Fraternity, Financial Executives Institute, Greater Phoenix Economic Council, and Phoenix Boys Choir Latino Advisory Council.

Astorga has been recognized in "Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities,” the ASU College of Business Alumni Hall of Fame”, "Pi Kappa Alpha Alumni Hall of Fame” "Outstanding Young Men of America”, Hispanic Who's Who in America”, and "Who's Who in Finance and Industry”. He has received various civic and business awards, including the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce "1981 Professional of the Year”, the Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants "1995 Public Service Award”, the Valle Del Sol, Inc. "1998 Profiles of Success Exemplary Leadership Award”, the Arizona State University "1999 Alumni Achievement Award”, the Anti-Defamation League "2000 Leaders of Distinction Award”, and the Chicanos Por La Causa "2001 Professional Achievement Award”. He was also recognized in The Business Journal's list of the "Valley's 100+ Most Influential” in 1999-2000 and "Valley Influential Class of 2004.”

As senior vice president of claim services and corporate systems at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ), Jody Chandler oversees the claims, e-commerce, federal employee program, BlueCard, information services and data management divisions. Chandler is also responsible for the electronic data systems (EDS) and manages all system coordination and system issues for the organization. She manages more than 475 employees in this capacity.

Chandler has been with BCBSAZ since 1964 when she joined the organization as a claims processor. She was later promoted to supervisory roles and then managerial roles. Prior to her appointment as senior vice president, she served as claims director and vice president of claims and federal programs.

Chandler received her associate's degree from Phoenix College. She is a board member for both John C. Lincoln Desert Mission, Salvation Army and Arizona Science Center. Chandler has been honored with Today's Arizona Woman's Top 100 Women in Business award and under her direction the federal employee group has received three national awards for excellence.

As senior vice president of marketing and provider affairs at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ), Richard M. Hannon oversees the organization's marketing and provider network management activities. This includes responsibility for sales, product development, e-Business, advertising, public relations, communications, media relations, provider network contracting and issues management. He is also responsible for the company's legislative programs.

Hannon joined BCBSAZ in March 1990 as vice president of the legal division. Prior to joining the organization, he served for five years as general counsel of Phoenix Children's Hospital. For more than 14 years, Hannon was a senior attorney at Greyhound Corporation, serving two of those years as the general attorney for Greyhound Lines-West in San Francisco. He began his practice with the Phoenix City Attorney's Office and Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

Hannon currently serves on the board of directors and the executive committee for the Arizona State Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the advisory board for Consortium Health Plans, Inc. and the board of directors for the World Affairs Council of Arizona. Hannon is the vice chairman of the American Association of Preferred Provider Organizations. He is an inactive member of the Arizona and California Bar Associations. He was named the 2001 "Executive of the Year" by the Phoenix chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Hannon earned his juris doctorate degree in 1969 from Creighton University School of Law in Omaha, Nebraska. He has been an Arizona resident since 1975.

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As Chief Information Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ), Elizabeth A. Messina is responsible for managing BCBSAZ's extensive technology infrastructure. Messina plans, designs and implements solutions that drive operational efficiencies, enhance the customer service experience and help customers and consumers make better-informed health care choices.

Messina joined BCBSAZ in 2007 after spending 18 years at IBM and 10 years at Aetna. She has held numerous leadership roles, including strategic planning and information technology portfolio management and Medicare Strategy Development and Implementation.

A A native of Reading, Pennsylvania, Messina received a B.S. in Management Information Systems from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1979. In 1995, she graduated from the IBM Global Executive Program sponsored by Pace University's Business Management Institute.

As Senior Vice President of Health Services and Chief Medical Officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona (BCBSAZ), Gary Drue Smethers, M.D., is responsible for overseeing the development of corporate medical policies and the daily administrative functions of the Health Services Division. In addition to the academics of medical policy development, those functions include: medical underwriting, medical claims review, clinical quality improvement, care management, disease management, health promotion/wellness, utilization review and provider credentialing. In this capacity, he manages a division of over 200 employees. Dr. Smethers also contributes his expertise to the development of corporate strategy as it relates to health services, and serves as a corporate liaison to the Arizona clinical community most notably the Arizona Medical Association. Dr. Smethers has been with BCBSAZ since 1994.

A native of Pennsylvania, Dr. Smethers received his bachelor's degree from Gettysburg College, and earned his medical degree from the Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center Integrated Program in Phoenix where he also had the honor of serving as chief resident. Now a long time Arizonan, Dr. Smethers is well known within the local medical community. Before joining BCBSAZ, he served as the director of emergency medicine and admissions at the Phoenix Veterans Administration Medical Center (now Carl Hayden VA Medical Center); as medical director for Phoenix Health Plan, one of Arizona's AHCCCS (Medicaid) HMOs; and as medical director for Thunderbird Samaritan Medical Center (now Banner Thunderbird Medical Center). Prior to his career in administrative medicine, Dr. Smethers had an internal medicine private practice in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Committed to the academic advancement of health services, Dr. Smethers is a member of the American College of Physicians, The American College of Physician Executives, and has been a member of the teaching clinical faculty of the University of Arizona, College of Medicine since 1983. He is a past chairman of the National Council of Physician Executives of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and is a member of the Arizona State University (ASU) W. P. Carey School of Business Curriculum Advisory Board for Health Administration and Policy. Nationally recognized as one of the leading experts within the health care delivery and insurance industries, he is often a guest speaker for a variety of organizations especially in the area of Health Promotion and Wellness.

Dr. Smethers is active in the community at large, having served on many community volunteer boards including: Body Positive, an AIDS clinical research and services organization, The Phoenix Museum of History, the Glendale YMCA, the Herberger Theater Center, and Ballet Arizona. He is currently an active member of the John C. Lincoln Health Network Quality and Safety of Patient Care Committee and the Arizona State University Katherine K. Herberger College of Fine Arts Dean's Council.

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