March 28, 2024
Business

Anthem’s Cohen accepts job at IP

Bangor native and former city mayor Bill Cohen, director of corporate communications for Anthem Health Plans of Maine, will leave his position at the end of this week, he announced Thursday.

Cohen, who has been with for-profit, Indiana-based Anthem since just after it purchased Maine’s nonprofit Blue Cross and Blue Shield programs in 1999, has accepted a new job as the communications manager for International Paper’s mill in Bucksport. He will live in the Blue Hill area. Anthem has not named a replacement.

Before working for Anthem, Cohen worked for nine years as director of public affairs for Bangor Hydro Electric Co. He served as the mayor of Bangor in 1992.

Also leaving Anthem’s South Portland office this month is Jim Parker, vice president and general manager. Parker, who moved to Maine in 1999 to handle the transition from the nonprofit Blues, has returned to Indiana to head up the corporation’s federal employee insurance division.

Erin Hoeflinger, formerly vice president for sales in Maine, will take Parker’s place. Anthem moved Hoeflinger to its Maine office in 1999.

In a merger that became effective Nov. 30, Anthem acquired California-based WellPoint Health Networks, creating an Indianapolis-based megacorporation named WellPoint Inc., although the Anthem name lingers on in Maine and some other locations.

The value of the transaction at the time of the merger was approximately $20.8 billion. WellPoint Inc. provides health insurance to about 28 million Americans in 13 states, making it the largest publicly traded health plan in the nation.


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