Following One Vision Leads to Recognition for Blue Cross IT Leaders
Blues Perspectives
| 3 min read
Improving the health of our members. Optimizing the overall experience with our brand. Reducing costs. These may not seem like the functions of a typical IT department, but for Blue Cross IT, what we do plays a strategic role in helping us advance our overall company mission and member experience. These results don’t happen by accident, they start with great leaders like Bill Fandrich, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer and Angela Williams, director of Enterprise Information Security, who have recently been recognized for their work. Every day, they inspire their teams to discover new and exciting ways to deliver next-generation solutions for members, providers and businesses across Michigan. As Blue Cross CEO Dan Loepp has noted, “the way IT has engaged with the business is a game changer for us.” We’re excited our efforts are being recognized outside our company as well.
Fandrich Named Finalist for MichiganCIO’s CIO of the Year Awards
This was the first year for MichiganCIO to honor chief information officers who have demonstrated excellence in technology leadership throughout the Detroit metropolitan area. As one of only four finalists in the nonprofit, government and educational category, Chief Information Officer Bill Fandrich is responsible for leading the enterprise IT division at Blue Cross and its nine subsidiaries. Fandrich manages a team with over 2,000 resources, supports 6,000 applications and provides enterprise services to over 10,000 resources located in Michigan and across the United States. As CIO, Fandrich’s key responsibilities include setting and implementing the enterprise’s IT strategy. The current objectives are legacy optimization, digitization and new partnership models. This year, Fandrich’s abilities proved vital in developing IT’s response to COVID-19 - a unique challenge in many ways. Fandrich’s team quickly mobilized a command center to support and ensure continued productivity and collaboration throughout the pandemic. IT worked across departments to enable a remote work environment for over 12,600 resources and rolled out new security monitoring and enhancements to combat emerging threats. In addition to internal efforts, Blue Cross’ cloud-based informatics environment was used to support the State of Michigan’s effort to better understand and respond to COVID. Although Fandrich is accountable for technology, his belief is that developing and retaining talent is the most important part of our IT strategy. A key differentiator and success factor for recruiting new IT talent is promoting the awareness of our Diversity and Inclusion programs which is critical to the mission of Blue Cross both externally in community efforts and internally with employees.
Angela Williams Honored With 2020 Executive Women’s Forum Women of Influence Award
For almost 20 years, The Executive Women's Forum has recognized emerging leaders as well as the most prominent and influential female executives in the Information Security, Risk Management and Privacy industries. The “Corporate Practitioner” category is primarily focused on internal security, IT risk and privacy practitioners. This year, the group recognized Angela Williams, Blue Cross’ director of Enterprise Information Security. With a focus on cybersecurity, Williams leads teams in improving the security posture of the enterprise, assisting in the development of multi-year strategies and overseeing security governance, risk, assurance and performance programs. An industry thought-leader with 29 years of IT experience, Williams is committed to the continued growth and impact of Blue Cross. She demonstrates an even stronger dedication to community involvement and has worked tirelessly to make IT a more inclusive and diverse field for future generations.
