Gail Koziara Boudreaux (born 1960) is an American businesswoman and athlete. In college, she played for the

Dartmouth Big Green The Dartmouth College Big Green are the varsity and club athletic teams representing Dartmouth College, an American university located in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth's teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ...

Women's basketball team from 1978 through 1982. She later served as an executive for a number of companies such as

Aetna Aetna Inc. () is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, ...

, BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois (2002) and

UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. It offers health care products and insurance services. UnitedHealth Group is the world's seventh largest c ...

(2008). In 2020 she was #10 on the ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' list of "

The World's 100 Most Powerful Women Since 2004, the American business magazine ''Forbes'' compiled an annual list of the 100 most powerful women in the world. It is edited by notable ''Forbes'' journalists, including Moira Forbes, and is based on visibility and economic impact. Fo ...

". From 2008 to 2014 she was on the ''

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'' list of powerful women, peaking at #25. In Fall 2014, she stepped down from the CEO position of UnitedHealthcare (the largest business division of UHG), then forming her own healthcare consulting company GKB Global Health, LLC. In November 2017, she became CEO of Elevance Health, Inc., now the second largest American company with a woman CEO.

High school

Boudreaux attended Chicopee Comprehensive High School in

Chicopee, Massachusetts Chicopee ( ) is a city located on the Connecticut River in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 55,560, making it the second-largest city in Western Massachusetts after Springfield. C ...

. Her team twice won the state championship. At 17, she averaged 23.4 points and 20 rebounds a game for the Chicopee Comprehensive girls' basketball team. She ultimately scored a school-record 1,719 career points and was named a Parade All American her senior year. The 6'2" senior center also held the Massachusetts girls' state shot-put record with a throw of 44 feet, six inches.Sports Illustrated: Faces In the Crowd 1978

College

Koziara led the Big Green women's basketball in scoring for three consecutive years, and still holds a significant number of school records. She became Dartmouth's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, with 1,933 points and 1,635 rebounds in 89 games. She also was named

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

Player of the Year three straight seasons, and became a two-time

Academic All-American The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...

and third team All-American as well. Koziara was honored by the NCAA as a Silver Anniversary Award winner and inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and Dartmouth's Wearers of the Green Hall of Fame. She led the Big Green to the first of their many Ivy League championships. She also won four straight Ivy League women's shot put titles, with a throw of 46 feet, four inches her senior year. That same year she earned All American recognition in the shot put.Sports Illustrated: Faces In the Crowd 1982 She graduated cum laude from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

in 1982. She attended business school at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and graduated with high honors in 1989.

Professional career

She spent 20 years at AETNA, then in 2002 was named president of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois. She became the executive vice president for External Operations at

Health Care Service Corporation Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) is a member-owned health insurance company in the United States. HCSC was formerly known as Hospital Service Corporation and changed its name to Health Care Service Corporation in 1975. The company was found ...

, which encompasses Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois. In May 2008 she became executive

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

of UnitedHealthcare at

. From January 2011 to November 2014, she served as the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of UnitedHealthcare, the biggest US insurer, serving 45 million customers with revenue of $120 billion. In 2015, months after stepping down from her post of CEO for UnitedHeathcare, Gail founded and became CEO of GKB Global Health, LLC, a healthcare strategy and business advisory firm. On November 6, 2017, Boudreaux was named CEO of Anthem, Inc. which has since re-branded to Elevance Health, Inc.

Awards and recognition

Boudreaux was honored from 2008 to 2021 as one of ''

s 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business and as one of the ''

'' 100 Most Powerful Women in The World. * In 2020 she was #10 on the ''

'' list of The 100 Most Powerful Women. * In 2021 she was #16 on the ''

'' list of The 100 Most Powerful Women. As recently as 2021, Boudreaux was also named by Modern Healthcare as one of the Most Powerful People in Healthcare. She was recognized by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal as one of the top 25 industry leaders, and included on Today's Chicago Woman list of 100 Women of Influence. In 2018, Boudreaux was awarded the

Billie Jean King Contribution Award The Billie Jean King Contribution Award is an annual award granted by the Women's Sports Foundation to an individual or group who has made significant contributions to the development and advancement of women's sports. In 2017, the award was rename ...

. In 2022, Boudreaux was awarded the

Theodore Roosevelt Award The Theodore Roosevelt Award is the highest honor the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) may confer on an individual. The award is awarded annually to a graduate from an NCAA member institution who earned a varsity letter in college fo ...

, as well as being inducted into the CoSIDA

Academic All-America The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...

Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

Bibliography

*Dartmouth Big Green women's basketball media guide. (PDF copy available a
www.DartmouthSports.com

Gail Koziara Boudreaux
Ivy at 50 – Council of Ivy Group Presidents, January 8, 2007.
Gail Koziara Boudreaux Named NCAA Silver Anniversary Award Recipient
Dartmouth Varsity athletics, November 6, 2006.

National Collegiate Athletic Association – NCAA.org, November 6, 2006
UnitedHealth Group: Gail K. Boudreaux to Head Commercial Markets Group

Archived
Reuters, April 22, 2008. *Faces in the Crowd. Sports Illustrated, February 27, 1978 *Faces in the Crowd. Sports Illustrated, May 31, 1982

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boudreaux, Gail Koziara Dartmouth Big Green women's basketball players Living people People from Chicopee, Massachusetts Basketball players from Massachusetts Aetna employees Columbia Business School alumni American women chief executives 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American women's basketball players American health care chief executives 1960 births 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesswomen American chief executives of Fortune 500 companies