The Mission & Values in Action award is Blue Shield of California's highest honor, given annually to individuals and teams who champion innovative ideas and whose achievements create a positive change in support of our mission and company values. Here are the individual winners for 2018.
David Cabrera, Direct Sales Representative

As a dedicated direct sales agent, David has a call center job assisting prospects to find plans that fit their needs during the open enrollment period. This past open enrollment period, he went above and beyond. It was determined early on that the Phoenix enrollment portal was not responding correctly to prospects trying to submit their applications. When escalated, the Phoenix team could not replicate the issue and didn't have access to non-BSC equipment to troubleshoot the problem. David sprang into action. Not only did he join various troubleshooting calls during the busiest time to sell on the phones, he even, after hours, used various laptops, iPads and cell phones to recreate the issue and report the details back to IT so they could quickly resolve the issue

Raul Guerridos, Manager Broker Sales
In 2018, Blue Shield brought member billing in-house, necessitating a migration to Fiserv and requiring all AutoPay members to re-enroll or risk termination for non-payment. The initial project plan included only a flier to communicate this massive effort to our Brokers. Recognizing that 65% of our Individual and Family Plans business is Broker and understanding the potential power in that partnership, Raul built a robust plan of engagement, including the design and creation of an innovative time-saving tool for Producer Services, proactive Broker outreach providing real time data, training, and turn-key client communication materials to help assist our impacted members.

Stephanie Gandomi, Clinical Program Manager
With the recent explosion of genetic testing available on the market, appropriate application of these diagnostic tools is critical for optimal patient care. Stephanie, Genetics & Precision Medicine Program Manager, developed and led innovative initiatives that helped to drive down overutilization, improve access to underutilized cutting-edge genetic expression assays, uncovered and addressed fraudulent billing practices, created quality “narrow networks" and built affordable patient-centric programs in high-cost areas of molecular oncology and pharmacogenetics. Cumulatively, this work led to marked increases in the quality of molecular diagnostic care and accounted for more than $8 million dollars in cost of healthcare savings in 2018.
Kelly Seymour, Senior Manager Information Technology (IT) Customer Services
Kelly Seymour, was honored this year with the MVIA Citizenship Award for the work she has done with organizations all around the El Dorado Hills area, including for her work with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Kelly is responsible for connecting Blue Shield with Big Brothers Big Sisters of El Dorado County and has helped increase our company's involvement with the organization, where now more than 20 employees volunteer their time. Watch the video about Kelly's journey to learn more.