The Executives’ Club of Chicago Association of Information Technology Professionals
Chicago Area Windy City Chapters
2010 CIO of the Year Information Request Form
Use this information request form to submit your information by Friday, August 6, 2010. A panel comprised of The Executives’
Club of Chicago Technology Committee Co-Chairs and distinguished CIO’s, including past award winners, will perform judging
and selection of the award winners. Judging is scheduled to occur during August-September 2010 with the award winner being
announced on October 26, 2010 at The Executives’ Club of Chicago opening Technology Conference of the 2010-2011 season at
the Hilton Chicago from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. It will be followed by The Executives’ Club nationally recognized Global Leaders
Luncheon.
Nominees should be the top IT executives within their company; however, they are not required to carry the title of CIO. We
encourage nominees from any size company. Nominees are not required to be The Executives’ Club of Chicago or AITP
members.
Any questions should be directed to: (1) Rich Barnier, Chairman and Chair CEO, AITP at rbarnier@earthlink.net or (630) 202-
2285 or (2) Paul Dittmann, President, AITP Chicago pdittmann@pathf.com or (312) 391-5822 or (3) Gabriele Ausraite, Program
Coordinator, The Executives’ Club of Chicago at gausraite@executivesclub.org or (312) 263-3500 ex. 33.
DATE: _______________
A. Contact Information
CIO NOMINEE C-LEVEL REFERENCE AT COMPANY
Name: Brian Hedberg Name: Pat Hemingway Hall
Company: Health Care Service Company: Health Care Service Corporation
Corporation
Title: Chief Information Officer Title: Chief Executive Officer
Address: 300 East Randolph Street Address: 300 East Randolph Street
Chicago, IL 60601 Chicago, IL 60601
Phone Number: 312-653-7726 Phone Number: 312-653-6693
Email Address: hedbergb@hcsc.net Email Address: Pat_Hemingway@hcsc.net
B. Current Role in the Business
B1. [Provide a short (one paragraph) description of the business. Provide relevant perspective such as size,
global/domestic, industry, growth history, etc.]
The largest customer-owned health insurer in the United States and fourth largest overall, Health Care
Service Corporation (HCSC) is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. The
company operates through its plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, and several subsidiaries
to offer a variety of health and life insurance products and related services to employers and individuals. The
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The Executives’ Club of Chicago Association of Information Technology Professionals
Chicago Area Windy City Chapters
company‟s tremendous growth continues as other Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans join HCSC; Texas in
1998; New Mexico in 2001; and Oklahoma in 2005. There are currently 59 offices across the four plan
states. HCSC has 12.4 million members through out the United States that are supported by over 16,000
employees.
B2. [Describe your role in the business. Include the nominee’s functional scope, reporting relationship, corporate
committee membership, etc.]
I am the Chief Information Officer of HCSC, within our Internal Operations Group, reporting up through our
Chief Operation Officer, Colleen Reitan, who in turn reports to our Chief Executive Officer, Pat
Hemingway-Hall. As CIO, I am responsible for directing, developing and leading a staff of over 1,900 IT
professionals that enable the business with new capabilities including systems development, infrastructure,
production reliability and availability, telecommunications, IT architecture, information security, and
customer service. I also set and communicate the IT strategic direction which drives our employees to
deliver for our business.
I am a member of our CEO‟s senior leadership team and actively play a role in business decisions, especially
when it comes to how technology can advance our business. On occasion, I accompany plan presidents to
meetings with prospective customers to discuss our technical capabilities and potential technical partnership
areas in the future. I also lead our Information Technology Oversight Committee (ITOC). ITOC‟s purpose
is to inform key decision makers of our progress and future plans with technology changes and installations.
ITOC reviews and approves all major technology investments. As CIO, I also present regular updates to the
board of directors and audit committee on IT‟s strategy, priorities and our progress towards our goals.
My role as CIO has evolved outside of HCSC, as I am now a member of various external boards. First, I sit
on the Blue Health Intelligence (BHI) board of directors, run by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
This organization strives to provide greater health care transparency by compiling and analyzing data on
more than 54 million Blue Cross and Blue Shield members nationwide to determine health care trends and
best practices. Our CEO previously held this seat on the board, but has now passed the position onto me. I
am also a board member and chair of the compensation committee at TMG Health, a subsidiary acquired in
2008 by HCSC, which offers Business Process Outsourcing services to the Medicare, Medicaid and retiree
health plan markets.
C. Career Background [Provide a brief (1-2 paragraphs) summary of your management career path. Include your
educational credentials.]
I graduated from Roosevelt University with a degree in computer science, after serving in the U.S. Navy and
then started my career at HCSC as a programmer in IT. I grew through the company over the years, holding
many different management positions, and became a Vice President in 1994. Since then, I have lead many
different areas of IT, holding such positions as Chief Application Officer and Chief Production Officer,
where I was responsible for all IT production operations, including application development and
maintenance, network and computer operations, and ITG production and reliability processes and standards.
I took the position of CIO in 2008.
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The Executives’ Club of Chicago Association of Information Technology Professionals
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D. Leadership in Driving Business Value {Describe how you have realized a business leadership position at the
executive level, highlighting the business value created & impact achieved.}
HCSC provides its customers with services that are enabled by technology. As such, IT plays a critical role
in delivering business value. IT ensures core capabilities are available and reliable as well as works to
increase efficiencies. For example, claims are a critical component of insurance and the more that can be
automatically processed is savings for HCSC. IT has been increasing this auto adjudication rate steadily
each year saving millions for the business.
IT also plays a critical role in delivering new business capabilities that provide additional business value.
For example, IT is working on insourcing behavioral health capabilities. This will provide new functionality
in house as well as savings.
Finally, IT plays a critical role in delivering on mandates and of course Health Care Reform. The Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law on March 23, 2010 signifying the
beginning of major changes in the health care industry. HCSC has been working hard to prepare for
implementation of the new health care reform law. It‟s obvious that PPACA will affect our business and the
entire industry.
Changes to our business processes always mean big changes in IT. In the past, I have worked through
difficult process changes such as mergers and Y2K, but PPACA will be the biggest hurdle in my career. The
entire complex scope of the changes this bill will bring are not yet entirely known. I have a seat along side
the other leaders of our business, and our industry, in navigating this new territory.
Since PPACA was passed into law, our IT group has partnered with the business to define and determine the
impacts of these provisions to HCSC‟s business model and supporting systems. IT, in partnership with the
business, has played a critical role in developing and implementing solutions and changes for PPACA. In
April, a solution was developed that enabled HCSC to voluntarily expedite a provision of the new reform
law that allowed dependents currently covered under their parent's health plan to stay on the plan until the
age of 26. Instead of implementing the change on September 23, 2010, HCSC extended the coverage on
May 1, 2010. To make this possible, IT quickly implemented enhancements to HCSC‟s sales, quoting, and
enrollment system, membership system, and contract processing system. Additionally, IT, in partnership
with the business, made edits to approximately 35,000 accounts and 65,000 benefit agreements.
The value created from expediting these provisions is vital for our business. We kept our focus on our
customers‟ as our main goal, and minimized disruptions and concerns to effectively continue to serve our
12.4 million members. We were also among this first in the nation to comply with these provisions, making
us a leader in our industry.
IT will continue to partner with the business to deliver solutions to ensure all PPACA provisions are
implemented early or on schedule.
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E. Leadership in the Global Economy {Describe the contributions you and your IT organization have made in
helping your company succeed in an increasingly competitive Global Economy}
Although HCSC is not a global company, this doesn‟t mean that we don‟t have to be a player in the Global
Economy. The Global economy shapes the how we interact with our members and the technologies we
employ to keep our competitive edge.
For example, we research and use global technologies and emerging technology trends in our industry and
use this as an input for creating our IT strategy and plans. We want to make sure we have the right
technologies to make our business successful, and also want to make sure we are innovating and becoming a
leader by using state of the art technologies that will help our customers.
Global technology trends have a huge impact on the way we do business at HCSC. For instance, mobile
technologies and applications for communication are the way of the future. Our consumers want information
on demand and want fast ways to correspond with our company. To do this they use portable computing
devices, such as smart phones and net books, connected to wireless networks to perform application tasks
almost anywhere. Gartner says that by 2011, 50% of Fortune 500 companies will directly interact with their
customers via mobile devices. Knowing this fact it was imperative that HCSC interact with customers
through mobile devices or risk alienating or losing customers to competitors. IT and the business needed to
quickly decide which applications “go mobile”. We have developed a „mobility strategy‟ because of this
global movement and have created „Provider Finder‟ applications for our customers in New Mexico and are
working on the applications for our other markets.
As global trends in technology change, we keep updating our strategies to make sure we stay ahead of our
competitors and in tune with our customers.
F. Leadership in Innovation {Describe the innovative strategies/approaches/practices you have utilized to
gain/advance changes for your business model}
As CIO, together with my leadership team, we have implemented several innovative initiatives for the
business. I would like to share one of our most recent success stories.
HCSC completed a Wintel Server Virtualization Project in 2009 in which the company virtualized multiple
physical systems into logical, independent and secure logical partitions of a significantly smaller number of
physical servers, helping mitigate physical space constraints, energy consumption and capital outlay (and
ongoing expenses) for procurement of new server hardware.
Virtualization is a technology that enables HCSC to take several pieces of hardware such as servers and
consolidate them into one. In the past, many applications required a unique, and therefore dedicated,
operating system image. This need required dedicated application servers and led to underutilized hardware
and extraneous expenses. Virtualizing multiple physical systems into logical, independent and secure logical
partitions of a significantly smaller number of physical servers helps mitigate physical space constraints,
reduces energy consumption and reduces the need for new server hardware.
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The Executives’ Club of Chicago Association of Information Technology Professionals
Chicago Area Windy City Chapters
Server consolidation also reduces hardware acquisition and maintenance cost, data center square footage
requirements, complexity, and overall energy consumption, which is better for the environment. Perhaps
most importantly, by implementing innovation like Virtualization, HCSC is improving system availability,
supportability and recoverability for our business customers.
The Virtualization project delivered tremendous strategic impact as it enabled HCSC to curb its growth in
physical space in the Data Center, saved money and energy through maintenance of fewer servers as well as
a decreased need to purchase physical servers, and enabled several key business projects such as Desktop
Strategy. In today's new reality, doing more with less is HCSC's mantra. The IT Group (ITG) at HCSC
supports this mantra through efforts like the Virtualization project. To date, ITG has completed 320 server
conversions, exceeding our strategic goal of 299 servers. Twenty-nine additional servers were also identified
as no longer in use and immediately available for decommissioning. At the end of the Virtualization project
over 45 new virtual server sessions were implemented in place of new hardware orders. Correspondingly,
fewer servers will require less time and effort to support. In fact, this project produced over 3500 man-hours
of net labor savings by replacing physical servers with virtual.
HCSC is focused on reducing costs and optimizing our existing resources. The Virtualization project has
proven significant financial savings beyond what was initially anticipated when the business case was
initially written. This project avoided $3.8 million in net capital outlay by replacing physical servers with
virtual servers. At the inception of the project it was forecasted that the total financial benefits would be
around $12M, however by the project's end it was determined that over $16M in savings will be realized.
Virtualization is one of HCSC's largest initiatives supporting Green IT due to the reduction in power,
cooling, and space that it will provide. It is rewarding when technology adoption provides an opportunity to
save money and help the environment. The Windows Server Virtualization (WSV) project provided such an
opportunity. As a result of Virtualization, HCSC has reduced its power consumption by over 96,000 KWh,
which is equivalent to the power consumed by 100 average homes per month.
This was just one example of innovation. To continue a focus on innovation, we are opening an innovation
lab where we will continue to test new technologies to see how they can be utilized in our business model.
G. Leadership in Corporate Social Responsibility {Describe how your IT organization supports Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiatives that positively impact the environment, society, marketplace and the workplace}
HCSC is in the trust business and as such Corporate Social Responsibility is paramount. We market health
and life insurance products and services, but we cannot possibly succeed unless we maintain our reputation
and continue to earn the trust of consumers, employers, providers, regulators, bankers and vendors. There
are several programs that demonstrate our commitment to CSR.
For one, there is our Compliance Program, Code of Business Ethics and Conduct as well as our Core Values.
Each is supported by the members of our Board of Directors and executive leadership team. In fact, all board
members and senior executives actively participate in the same annual Corporate Compliance training
sessions as employees.
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Another example is HCSC‟s diversity program. HCSC‟s diversity efforts, mission and definition are aligned
with the corporate mission. The purpose of these efforts is to foster a diverse work environment where all
employees are enabled to positively contribute to HCSC‟s business objectives. Through the commitment
and leadership of senior management, diversity is incorporated into the way we manage and interact with
coworkers, and how we serve and interact with our customers, providers and the community. There are
many examples of how HCSC promotes and supports diversity in the workplace. IT actively supports all of
these, but also has a leadership role in two unique programs. First, our „Hire the Future‟ program
encourages inner city youth to further their education and prepare for a successful career. We work with i.c.
Stars, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School and Inroads to create tomorrow‟s workforce. Next, our company was
given the prestigious Epsilon award by the The Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) for the Best
Company for Blacks in IT. After being a corporate sponsor for several years, HCSC initiated a chapter of
Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) in 2008 and has gained a large active membership within the
company.
I am also an active member of the Chicago Mayor‟s Council for Technology Advisors (MCTA). This task
force was created in 1999 to position Chicago as a leader in high-technology growth among large
metropolitan areas. It is committed to policies and programs that promote sustainable technology-based
economic growth and bring the benefits of the new economy to all Chicagoans. I have been actively
involved in two important initiatives with the MCTA this year. First, through the MCTA, HCSC was able to
get involved in a program called Chicago Career Tech. This new city program was created from the
MCTA‟s plan to make Chicago a Technology Center of Excellence. The innovative program creates a new
corps of technology professionals by providing technology training for displaced white-collar workers.
Supported by the business community, the program strengthens Chicago‟s position as a technology center,
while providing a path into technology jobs for displaced workers. We are currently hosting 4 participants
from the program at HCSC and plan to be actively involved in the second class of participants.
The second MCTA initiative HCSC has embraced this year is the Health IT initiative. The goal of the
initiative is to focus on job creation and to better health outcomes through HIT by making HIT more
accessible and simpler. It was a 90 day initiative that produced The Health IT Excellence Action Agenda
2010 to help better align Chicago with these HIT efforts and to enhance the city‟s position as a leader in
Health IT excellence. The three main goals of the program are to improve measurable health care outcomes,
accelerate economic development of the Health IT sector in Chicago and sustain long-term innovation and
thought leadership.
The final example I will share regarding CSR is with regards to the environment. We have one of the largest
distributed ice plants in the city of Chicago (we designed and sold this to Chicago Thermal, a local utility
provider that has a connected network of these ice plants throughout Chicago.) The ice plant in our building
not only feeds chilled water for cooling to our building, but to others (e.g. AON, 340 E Randolph, etc)
through their network. This plant also uses ammonia for refrigerant which is totally CFC free for the
environment.
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Since opening our data center in Waukegan in early 1996, we have engaged in energy curtailment (co-
generation efforts) taking over for Com Ed in peak summer conditions (when they need support from a
demand standpoint). In return, we receive a check ($) for these brief periods of self power generation.
HCSC‟s employees have built a reputation that will endure and grow because of our commitment to achieve
a high level of ethics and integrity every day.
H. Building Business Partnerships [Summarize your demonstrated success in forging productive relationships with
each of the following constituencies]
H1. Internal Business Partners
I have developed an organizational model that involves all of our IT leaders, me included, in the
development of new business products and services. HCSC has several „enterprise teams‟ that align to our
company‟s operations and are responsible for overseeing the implementation of strategic objectives related to
their areas. These teams include Health Care Management, Marketing and Sales, Service, Business Support,
and Information Technology. Each enterprise team has a senior leader from IT that gives input and
perspective on decisions that are made. Along with the senior leader, IT also allocates architect, application
and information specialists to each team to ensure our current technical capabilities are considered when
recommending new products and services. These delegates then come to our IT Senior Leadership meetings
and cascade the information to the rest of our leaders so that every area of IT is involved in the decision
making process. I am also able to report back up to the business about the new ideas through the use of our
Chief Executive Officer‟s weekly huddles. I found that this approach provides all of our customers‟ with
consistent service and increases speed to market because of the collaborative approach between all groups in
the enterprise.
H2. IT Employees
Our division‟s culture is simple yet powerful: „One Team‟. The environment we work in is built on
teamwork and trust. The daily focus on this vision enables us to break down silos and work in cross matrix
teams, adding value by sharing our disciplines with others.
One of the most important parts of teamwork is open communication. We practice a successful two-way
communication model in IT, that includes town hall presentations by our IT leaders in all four of our plan
states, monthly memos from me to our whole division, and weekly spot communications through a tool
called „Blue News.‟ I personally go to each state office two to three times per year to visit our IT employees
and encourage candid question and answer with no limits. Our leadership team believes that visibility is key
to leading our division. This teamwork model has really propelled our division to achieve many successes.
H3. Suppliers
The success of our applications and systems relies not only on our employees working as one team, but also
that our employees, vendors and suppliers are practicing good teamwork. To promote the „One Team‟
concept with our suppliers, I actively manage our strategic relationships with each of our external strategic
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The Executives’ Club of Chicago Association of Information Technology Professionals
Chicago Area Windy City Chapters
vendors. It is important that our vendors are strategic partners. Not only do we need their products, but we
value their advice and vision for our technology and how it will advance our business.
At the end of 2009, we implemented a new governance program for our vendors called the Vendor Oversight
Committee (VOC). The ITG VOC governance program's purpose is to implement greater oversight of ITG's
top 10 strategic vendors to allow ITG to better improve interactions with the vendor for finding strategic
opportunities for advancement in technology and/or cost savings. Through greater collaboration with vendor
partners, ITG and HCSC can reap benefits and efficiencies in managing our technical environment,
providing an impact on the capabilities and products provided to our customers.
Through out the year I personally sit down with our account representative from each strategic vendor to
discuss our relationship. We cover HCSC‟s priorities, IT‟s priorities in relation to the business, projects that
the supplier is currently involved in, and a scorecard on our relationship over the past year. This form of
open communication helps both HCSC and the supplier make sure that most important priorities are being
addressed. Also, each one of the vendors has an IT VP as their Executive Sponsor who is managing the
relationship with the vendor at a lower level.
We also invite our large vendors to come to our company to perform thought leadership seminars for our
employees. We find that in doing this, we benefit from learning from the experts, and the suppliers benefit
from teaching us about more of their products and services. Our IT resources are also sought out by our
vendors as speakers and panelists for large industry events. Several of our IT leaders were speakers at an
IBM conference this year, and I was also a panelist at the Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders
Conference, where I spoke about retaining employees after the recession.
I. Vision and Tactics
I1. Long Term Vision [Describe the current competitive business climate and how you position IT to support the
business strategy as it evolves.]
While the uncertain economy continues to wreak havoc on many corporations, it is also the best time to take
a look at how we operate and optimize inefficiencies to become stronger than ever. Our company is
currently walking a fine line between aggressively managing costs and taking actions now that will ensure
desired performance as business conditions improve.
HCSC strives to invest in technology, not for technology‟s sake, but to solve challenges, remove roadblocks
and ensure HCSC succeeds in the ever changing marketplace. We look for technology to drive efficiency
and effectiveness, but also to offer a competitive edge for the business.
Our past investments and capabilities have really positioned us well in the marketplace but we are facing a
“new reality” with many forces at play. We are certainly in a changing business environment led by the
mother of all changes: Health Care Reform. These changes are leading to increased pressures on our costs
and revenues which in turn, is causing a shift in the products we offer our customers as the industry moves to
a more “retail” individual market.
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Chicago Area Windy City Chapters
In addition to Health Care Reform, another major driver of change is new technology. New technologies
like smart phones, iPads and other mobile computing devices are really altering the way we can and need to
interact with our customers.
These new technologies and business models are driving new information needs in the market place. For
example, the evolution of Social Media, where the average person can post content and their opinions on
public sites like Facebook and YouTube, offer new communication opportunities for our organization but
also present new technology, security and data storage requirements and issues. All of this together is
driving the need for new capabilities well beyond traditional claims processing.
In anticipation of these new drivers of change, HCSC revised its enterprise strategy. Our long-term vision
focuses on how we want our customers to describe their experience with us; to be simpler, more affordable,
and more accessible. So, given the new corporate strategy, we looked at our ITG strategy and decided we
needed to modify it to meet the current reality.
To effectively support “running the business”, Operational Excellence remains as “Job Number One”.
To position for the future, ITG needs to partner with the business to develop innovative technology solutions,
And in our response to Heath Care Reform, we need to be flexible and adaptable to adjust to this dynamic
environment.
So, for 2010 and beyond, Operational Excellence remains a key priority, but we need to build on it further,
which is why we are calling it Operational Excellence Plus. We certainly will continue to be Business
Solution Providers for our business partners, but in these challenging times we have to bring more innovation
to our enterprise solutions. And lastly, we will continue to bring advanced health information and innovation,
but it‟s critical that we adapt faster than ever before in everything that we build.
I2. Short Term Vision [Describe the Nominee’s short term objectives (1 year past, 1 year future) in support of the
long term strategy; Describe two or three specific initiatives and their actual or planned business impact.]
IT has created and demonstrated a recipe for success in completing our short term vision in support of our
long term strategic imperatives. We constantly update our plans to account for the rapidly changing
environment around us, but use our imperatives as the compass to drive us in the right direction and not steer
off course. This recipe has been utilized since 2007.
In 2007, we created the Complete the Turnaround (CTT) program. The purpose of the program was to
ensure that operational systems, services, processes and portals are reliable, accurate, consistently available
and secure. To ensure that CTT would be successful and easy for the organization to understand, a one page
dashboard was developed and executive accountability was assigned. Regular progress reviews were put in
place to address issues as they arose.
To continue with the success achieved during CTT, our leadership team again organized our top priorities
into 5 initiatives. We named the 2009 program „Advance the Business‟ (ATB) and represents the top IT
driven priorities that enable both IT‟s Strategic Imperatives and HCSC‟s Strategic Direction. These
priorities are critical to laying the foundation for future technological advances and efficiencies within IT to
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advance the business. The program is structured just like CTT, with a one page dashboard and executive
accountability. There are 5 major programs that the initiatives are grouped within ATB:
Business Delivery and Quality
Scalability and Reliability
Improve Productivity and Optimize Cost
Protect the Brand
Flexible Workforce and People Initiatives
By the end of 2009, we had successfully completed all of the deliverables in the 2009 ATB plan. Some of the
gains we made from the program are:
Enhanced web presence for our customers.
Employed technology like virtualization that makes more efficient use of our equipment capacity, energy
resources, and dollars.
Recertified our critical business systems and applications to comply with regulations such as the NAIC
Model Audit Rule.
Implemented technology that allows us added flexibility for a portion of the workforce to work from home,
which reduces costs, improves morale, and makes us more competitive.
In 2010, we have again used the same recipe of ATB to create a short term plan of our most important work. With
the downturn in the economy and the constant pressures of Health Care Reform, we have evolved our 3 IT
strategic imperatives to align with the new business priorities, which I explained in the above question. We have
also revisited our short term plan half way through the year to make adjustments once PPACA was signed into
law. We are setting ourselves up to succeed and prosper in the face of these unprecedented times.
As planning starts for 2011, we are now putting together „The Next Generation of ATB‟. We will continue to use
this recipe for success of building annual plans to support the ITG Strategy.
J. Customer Contribution [Describe how you maintain an IT environment (people, process, technology) that delivers
value to the external customer.]
HCSC recognizes the competitive advantages that can be achieved through maintaining state-of-the-art
technology. As technology continues to be a key enabler, investing in operational improvements, managing
a process-centric governance and controls structures and focusing on the people who enable HCSC‟s
success, remains paramount to ensure the organization is functioning as an industry leader and trusted
partner.
People - Employees, HCSC‟s most valued asset, are offered the opportunity to contribute and grow in a
diverse, high-performing, value-based company that is mission focused. Since 2007, HCSC‟s growth and
external market trends prompted ITG and HCSC to launch an aggressive People Strategy to enable a high
performing culture to support the enterprise. This strategy defines unique leadership characteristics as well
as career paths necessary to keep HCSC well-positioned. ITG also emphasizes strategic thinking, personal
accountability, process excellence and a “One Team” culture. The results of the People Strategy are being
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recognized not only within ITG, but also at an industry level. Within one year, the HCSC cultural survey,
known as Blue Pulse, showed a 17% increase in the teamwork category for ITG. There were also notable
increases in growth and development for employees (up by 16%), employee recognition (increase of 13%)
and communication between management and employees (up by 14%). In 2009 and again in 2010, HCSC
was recognized as one of Computerworld‟s top 100 Best Places to work in IT. This recognition is achieved
through survey results, reflecting employee job satisfaction.
Process - HCSC has adopted industry best practices to ensure high quality delivery and transparency to
members. This focus on Operational Excellence targets adoption and continuous improvement of IT and
business processes which help ensure reliability and availability of HCSC‟s technical environment.
The Solution Delivery Methodology (SDM) has become a cornerstone of how HCSC delivers quality
business technology solutions. Based on industry standards, the SDM provides a delivery framework for
project teams including standard and effective approaches to requirements definition, project management,
testing and approvals. This methodology allows project teams to focus on delivering business value and
functionality. SDM benefits HCSC by reducing the amount of rework attributed to misunderstood business
requirements, improving quality through more rigorous testing and approvals, allowing for more traceability,
providing project management controls and increasing overall system availability.
In support of HCSC‟s efforts to become compliant with the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners‟ Model Audit Rule (NAIC / MAR) and as part of HCSC‟s ongoing efforts to ensure
continuous improvement, ITG recently completed a streamline the SDM and Quality Review methodology
and processes to promote higher efficiency on projects, maintain reliability and achieve regulatory
compliance.
Technology - To further advance the business, HCSC has adopted industry best technology management
practices which ensure scalability, reliability and availability of data to key stakeholders.
IT‟s top technology priorities for HCSC‟s customers is providing reliable and secure systems to process end
user data and keep it secure. We have 20 Service Level Agreements with the business for our most critical
customer systems which are reviewed monthly to make sure our systems are as reliable as possible.
Currently, all 20 systems are receiving an excellent rating from our business customers.
Customers also expect that HCSC will keep their sensitive medical information secure and private. They
demand that HCSC continue to stay on top of regulations, technologies and processes with regard to
information protection. In the wake of data breaches and identity theft incidents that appear all too regularly
in the media, our Information Security group within IT ensures that HCSC has appropriate safeguards to
prevent these situations from happening to the data with which we have been entrusted.
As previously stated, IT not only keeps HCSC technology up and running, but also uses our strategy to
determine the best technology for our business priorities to succeed. For instance, as the industry‟s focus on
wellness and medical management has increased, the importance of innovative technologies aimed at
improving member health has become more important that ever. Technology is having a direct impact on
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The Executives’ Club of Chicago Association of Information Technology Professionals
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the health of our customers. Blue Access for Members (BAM) is a 24x7 internet service that provides
members access to their health care information online. BAM also provides tools to keep members
informed and focused on wellness. These tools support HCSC‟s mission to promote health and wellness to
its members. Our most established tool in this space is Personal Health Manager (PHM), which combines
information provided by the member and HCSC‟s claims system to help members make informed health care
decisions.
Expanded Blue Access Online services have generated record growth in utilization and self-service cost
avoidance. During 2009, over 40.2K new users were added each month to BAM, generating over 12.53M
logins and over $9.78M in paper reduction savings.
K. Managing the IT Organization [Describe your initiatives to provide an attractive work environment that
encourages the professional development and effective contribution of IT employees.]
I have already mentioned our culture of „One Team‟ and how this combined with our two-way
communication model has contributed to our continued success in IT. Many other people-focused
initiatives, along with this main vision and model, encourage our employees to be fast, flexible and adaptive
to today‟s work environment.
HCSC has a proactive wellness campaign that is also extended to its employees. All employees are offered a
monetary award of $200 for completing a yearly health assessment, a physical, and recording their physical
activity. Also, the onsite program for healthy living, Motiva, gives wellness tips and free health screenings
on a regular basis. And we are currently building fitness centers at our corporate headquarters for all
employees to use.
As wellness also pertains to „work/life‟ balance, IT workers are offered generous yearly personal time off
(PTO) and are allowed to work flexible hours year round, to accommodate schedules other than 9-5. This
flexible schedule is necessary to maintain the reliability and availability of our systems. This program allows
employees to work their 40 hours over a 7 day work week, and allow them to structure their schedules to
accommodate their specific work hours. The program has helped employees maintain a great work life
balance while also effectively contributing to their job.
HCSC encourages a strong performance culture and provides monetary awards to recognize this goal. Fairly
and appropriately rewarding employees for the work they do is a consistent characteristic of high performing
organizations. Our IT group likes to celebrate the contributions of individuals and teams going above and
beyond their daily work that adds value to the organization through a program called IT STARS. We
encourage management to recognize employees who continue to go well above and beyond their assigned
duties in demonstrating true leadership, innovation, and vision. This program creates a positive work
environment, improves employee morale, and motivates high performance.
HCSC also has a strong commitment to diversity in the work place. Diversity is a way of doing business at
HCSC. We value and celebrate inclusion as well as cultural awareness among our work force and work
partners. Over the past four years, the IT department has had over a 10% increase in minority employment,
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The Executives’ Club of Chicago Association of Information Technology Professionals
Chicago Area Windy City Chapters
and a 5% increase in minorities in management positions. In addition, every employee is required to attend
yearly diversity training, and several weeks during the year are reserved for different diversity weeks for the
employees to learn about many cultures.
In 2008, HCSC was awarded the prestigious Epsilon Award from The Black Data Processing Associates
(BDPA) as the „Best Company for Blacks in Technology‟ and we have again been named as a top company
in 2009 and 2010 by BDPA. I personally serve as the Executive Sponsor for our HCSC BDPA Chapter and
am proud of the exciting programs and events the group puts on to promote diversity amongst our
employees.
During this economic downturn, most companies have had to cut budgets pertaining to employee training
and external conferences. While we have had to do the same, we are fortunate to have an amazing online
training portal where employees can sign on at anytime and take computer based training. We definitely
want to encourage employees to continue learning and growing. Our employees that are allowed to attend
these external trainings come back to their various groups and present the information that they learned that
would be beneficial for their coworkers.
Also, to promote thought leadership, our IT group is finding ways to leverage our vendor contracts and have
partnered with our large strategic vendors to host symposiums for knowledge exchange at our headquarters.
The events are for our IT employees to receive training onsite from these large vendors, an experience which
is not unlike going to a large scale conference. These events have been very popular and a great way to
contain costs, yet still offer innovative learning solutions at the same time.
Expanded Blue Access Online services have generated record growth in utilization and self-service cost
avoidance. During 2008, over 37.1K new users were added each month to BAM, generating over 10.62M
logins and over $3.27M in paper reduction savings.
L. External Recognition [We encourage you to include supporting documentation such as articles published and press
recognition.]
L1. Publications
- 2009: Gartner Best practice work in Architecture (Article: Case Study: HCSC Puts
Architecture in Context to Win Buy-In and Support)
- 2009: Corporate Executive Board Best practice work in Architecture (Article: Health Care
Service Corporation Tailored Stakeholder Communication)
L2. Other External Recognition/Awards
a. 2008: Received the Epsilon Award (top honor) from The Black Data Processing Associates
for the Best Company for Blacks in IT
b. 2009: Recognized as one of the Top 100 Places to Work in IT by Computerworld (91st place)
c. 2009: Black Data Processing Associates - Top Companies for Blacks in Technology
d. 2009: March of Dimes Diamond Award for overall statewide fundraising efforts in Illinois
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The Executives’ Club of Chicago Association of Information Technology Professionals
Chicago Area Windy City Chapters
e. 2009: Brian Hedberg named one of the Premier 100 IT Leaders by Computerworld Magazine
f. 2010: Recognized as one of the Top 100 Places to Work in IT by Computerworld Magazine
(57th place)
g. 2010: For the past six years, HCSC has been designated among “Top 50” companies for
diversity by Diversity Inc. Magazine.
h. 2010: Black Data Processing Associates - Top Companies for Blacks in Technology
i. 2010: Black Data Processing Associates - Epsilon Award for Career Pathing
j. 2010: Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve – Above and Beyond Award
M. Community/Charitable Involvement, Professional Societies, Leadership Roles [Describe your
contribution to the community and your profession outside of the context of your employment. Indicate how you have
leveraged your leadership skills and talents to the benefit of these constituencies.]
It is important for me to be as involved in the community as I am at HCSC. Currently I serve the
community through many different avenues, including charitable causes, diversity, and advisory services.
Over the past two years I have served as the HCSC sponsor for March of Dimes and helped our company
surpass the fund raising target of $10,000 by 36% which helped us earn the Diamond Award for
outstanding overall statewide fundraising efforts in Illinois. Personally, I helped raise 60% of the total. I
not only helped raise funds, but I also participated in the event and recruited employees to the cause.
Another leadership role that I am proud to hold is Executive Sponsor of our HCSC Black Data
Processing Associates (BDPA) chapter. In 2008, HCSC won the prestigious Epsilon award for the Best
Company for Blacks in Technology.
Recently, I have become a member of the University Club of Chicago. The club was founded for the
purpose of fostering an appreciation of literature and the arts. Within the membership of the club, nearly
every business and profession is represented.
Finally, I am an active member of the Chicago Mayor‟s Council for Technology Advisors. This task
force was created in 1999 to position Chicago as a leader in high-technology growth among large
metropolitan areas. It is committed to policies and programs that promote sustainable technology-based
economic growth and bring the benefits of the new economy to all Chicagoans. During the spring of
2009 I was also a panelist at the Chicago Leadership Forum where attendees brainstormed ways for
Chicago to emerge from this current economic environment.
SUBMIT THIS FORM TO : SEND COPY TO:
Gabriele Ausraite Paul Dittmann
Program Coordinator President
The Executives‟ Club of Chicago AITP Chicago
gausraite@executivesclub.org pdittmann@pathf.com
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The Executives’ Club of Chicago Association of Information Technology Professionals
Chicago Area Windy City Chapters
8 South Michigan Avenue 1303 W. 33rd Street
Suite # 320 Chicago, IL 60608
Chicago, IL 60603
Congratulations on your nomination to this prestigious award. We look forward to hearing from you by
August 6, 2010 and welcoming you to our Forum on October 26, 2010.
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