Two Prominent Upstate New York Businesswomen Join the Governing Board of Excellus BlueCross BlueShield

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Jennifer Balbach

ROCHESTER, NY (08/01/2012)(readMedia)-- Two prominent upstate New York businesswomen were appointed to the governing board of Excellus BlueCross BlueShield's parent corporation, The Lifetime Healthcare Companies.

Marianne Gaige, president and chief executive officer of Cathedral Corporation in Rome, and Jennifer Balbach, a partner at Summer Street Capital Partners in Buffalo, now serve on the governing board for upstate New York's largest nonprofit health plan, which has 1.85 million members. A family of affiliate companies makes up The Lifetime Healthcare Companies, a $5.7 billion nonprofit company headquartered in Rochester, which employs more than 6,000 workers throughout upstate New York.

"As one of upstate New York's largest employers, health insurers and providers of health services, our focus is principally local," said Randall L. Clark, chairman of the governing board. "That's why it's important for our board to have strong representation from the communities we serve. Marianne Gaige and Jennifer Balbach are exceptional businesswomen with strong local roots. They are superb additions to our board."

Gaige resides in the Village of Holland Patent north of Utica. The Cathedral Corporation employs 175 people and is headquartered in a 60,000-square-foot facility at Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome, with additional facilities in Lincoln, R.I., and Huntsville, Ala. Gaige is a member of the Regional Advisory Board of Excellus BlueCross BlueShield Utica Region and will continue to serve on that board.

She is a certified public accountant, holds a bachelor's degree from Alfred University and a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School. Gaige serves on the Adirondack Bank board of directors, the Upstate Cerebral Palsy board of trustees and the board of trustees for Utica College. She is a member of the Mohawk Valley Economic Development Growth Enterprise Corp. board of trustees and the Utica Industrial Development Corp. board of directors. Gaige also serves on the board of trustees of the Imaging Network Group, an international association of service bureaus that provides data management, printing, mailing, electronic billing and presentment.

As a partner at Summer Street Capital Partners, Buffalo resident Balbach manages private equity funds totaling approximately $500 million. Summer Street Capital Partners makes equity investments to support ownership transitions, management buyouts, and expansion of middle market companies in the eastern U.S. and Canada. Balbach is a member of the Health Plan's Western New York Regional Advisory Board and will continue to serve on that board.

Balbach earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a master's degree from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. She is a member of Leadership Buffalo and serves on the board of directors for the Western New York Women's Foundation and the Harvard-Radcliffe Alumni Association of Western New York.

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Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, a nonprofit independent licensee of the BlueCross BlueShield Association, is part of a family of companies that finances and delivers vital health care services to about 1.9 million people across upstate New York. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield provides access to high-quality, affordable health coverage, including valuable health-related resources that our members use every day, such as cost-saving prescription drug discounts and wellness tracking tools in our Step Up program. To learn more, visit excellusbcbs.com.