Name Gail Boudreaux Role Executive | Spouse Terry Boudreaux (m. 1989) | |
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Full Name Gail Koziara Boudreaux Alma mater Dartmouth CollegeColumbia Business School Education Chicopee Comprehensive High School, Columbia University, Columbia Business School, Dartmouth College Similar Laurie Ann Goldman, Angela Braly, Sara Blakely | ||
Gail Koziara Boudreaux was a standout player for the Dartmouth Big Green Women's basketball team from 1978 through 1982. She later served as an executive for a number of companies. She stepped down in fall 2014 after serving as the CEO of UnitedHealthcare for several years. UHC is the largest business division of UnitedHealth Group.
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High school
Gail attended Chicopee Comprehensive High School in Chicopee, Massachusetts. 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.
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 Player of the Year three straight seasons, and became a two-time Academic All-American and third team All-American as well. Koziara was honored by the NCAA as a Silver Anniversay 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.
She graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1982. She attended business school at Columbia University 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 Health Care Service Corporation, which encompasses Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois.
In May 2008 she became Executive Vice President of UnitedHealthcare at UnitedHealth Group. From January 2011 to November 2014 she served as the Chief Executive Officer of UnitedHealthcare, the biggest US insurer, serving 45 million customers with revenue of $120 billion.
Boudreaux was honored from 2008 to 2014 as one of Fortune's 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business. Additionally, she was named to the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in The World list and 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. Boudreaux was also named by Modern Healthcare as one of the Most Powerful People in Healthcare.
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.
Trivia
Forbes ranked her as the 54th most powerful woman in 2009.