Biographies

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Steven Udvarhelyi

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Steven Udvarhelyi joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana as president and chief executive officer in 2016. He is a board-certified internist with more than 30 years of experience in the health insurance industry.

Prior to joining Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, Dr. Udvarhelyi was with Independence Blue Cross (IBC) in Philadelphia for almost 20 years, most recently serving as executive vice president, health services and chief strategy officer. Before IBC, he worked for Prudential Health Care in a variety of roles, including vice president, operations for Florida and vice president, medical services. Prior to his career in the health insurance industry, Dr. Udvarhelyi was in academic medicine, and served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School with a clinical practice at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Udvarhelyi currently serves on the boards of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM), the Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce and the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI). He also serves on the Committee of 100 and the Business Council of New Orleans. He is a past board member of the National Committee for Quality Assurance( NCQA), NaviNet, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the Devereaux Foundation, and the Franklin Institute, and has served on Institute of Medicine roundtables and committees.

Dr. Udvarhelyi received an A.B. degree from Harvard College, an M.D. degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Master of Science degree in Health Services Administration from the Harvard School of Public Health.

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Brian Keller

Brian P. Keller

Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

Brian Keller is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana. He is currently responsible for the marketing functions of all group and individual products for Blue Cross.

Brian joined the company in 1996 as an Account Executive.  He has held the leadership roles of Regional Sales Director, Statewide Director of Individual Sales, Vice President, Individual Sales, and his current position of Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Brian has extensive experience with both group and individual sales.

Coupled with his previous employment with two Fortune 500 companies, Brian’s entire career has
been in sales and marketing Keller, 52, is a native of New Orleans and is a 1988 graduate of Tulane University.

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Michael Tipton

Michael Tipton

President, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation

Michael Tipton began as President of the Blue Cross Foundation in June, 2015 after having served as Executive Director of Teach For America – South Louisiana from 2007 until early 2015 and after having founded Tipton Consultants which worked with non-profit organizations on talent recruitment, strategic representation and expansion across Louisiana.

Michael is a native of Louisiana and a graduate of LSU with degrees in political science and history. He earned a master’s degree in teaching from Pace University in New York while teaching high school English and History in the South Bronx through Teach For America. Michael is a graduate of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s Leadership Baton Rouge and the Council for a Better Louisiana’s Leadership Louisiana programs.

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Michael Bertaut

Michael Bertaut

Healthcare Economist

Mike Bertaut joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana in 2004 and is currently the company’s senior healthcare economist and exchange coordinator.

Bertaut is a certified health consultant and Professional of the Academy of Healthcare Management. He has 25 years of analytical experience in the healthcare, telecom and retail industry sectors. Since April 2009, he has engaged in more than 700 public discussions on healthcare costs and the impact of reform with stakeholder groups ranging from healthcare policymakers in Washington, D.C., to local public service clubs.

He is a Fellow of the Academy of Applied Politics at LSU and author of the white paper “Five
Questions Every Business Must Answer Accurately, Monthly, Forever,” which discusses in easy-to-understand language the steps a business must take to be compliant with the Affordable Care Act.

Bertaut is recognized as a national commentator on healthcare reform, quoted in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and many local and state publications.

He is a financial modeler and forecaster, currently responsible for predicting membership activity for the 1.6 million Louisianans who carry a Blue Cross card.

Bertaut earned his bachelor’s degree and MBA from Louisiana State University and has celebrated more than 30 years as a cancer survivor. He and his wife of 29 years, Marla, have three children.

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