Ron DeBerry’s retirement triggers succession plan

Some of you may know about the upcoming retirement of Ron DeBerry, senior vice president for Consumer and Retail Markets.

Ron has had a long and distinguished career with Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and has been a significant leader and contributor to the success of the Consumer and Retail Markets division. After 35 years of service, Ron is retiring and will spend his time at home (by the pool, with his dogs and lovely wife, Stephanie). We wish him well on his upcoming retirement!

In preparation for Ron’s departure, a succession plan was developed within the Consumer and Retail Markets division. Following are the key elements of the plan:

• Matthew Vannatta will succeed Ron DeBerry as the vice president of Consumer and Retail Markets. Matthew has responsibility for marketing, sales and certain operations related to our individual and senior products. Matthew has been with Arkansas Blue Cross for nine years and has worked in several positions in Consumer and Retail Markets. We are excited about Matthew’s leadership and look forward to seeing how he will build on Ron’s success.
• David Dundee will succeed Matthew Vannatta as the lead executive for the Individual Market Segment. He will have responsibility for all under-age-65 (U65) individual business, including: the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Arkansas Works, limited-duration coverage and our closed product lines. Additionally, David will work collaboratively with other departments to define and implement a sales, marketing and product-management strategy to position all individual lines as industry leaders. Finally, he’ll work with our ancillary products team to successfully market and support our dental, vision and ancillary lines of business.
• Josh Fraum has joined Arkansas Blue Cross as lead executive for Senior Products. He will have responsibility for leading strategic initiatives for Medicare Advantage, Prescription Drug Plan (Medicare) and Medicare supplement products. He comes to Arkansas Blue Cross from Florida Blue, where most recently had responsibility for all Medicare product lines.
• Samantha Skyrme is being promoted to manager of Individual Agent Marketing. She will be accountable for the net growth and retention of existing membership. This includes individual products (under-age-65 and Medicare), individual ancillary products, as well as other products and services available through our affiliates. Samantha’s team supports more than 800 unique agents actively selling Arkansas Blue Cross products throughout the state.