New Wellpoint CEO is a Woman, But She’s Also a Lawyer!

Local news:  Wellpoint, whose long-time CEO, Larry Glasscock, is retiring, appointed Angela Braly, its general counsel, as the new CEO.  The Wall Street Journal article today rightly focuses on her prominence as a woman and CEO.  (One of her first tasks was to deal with what appears to be a case of Men Behaving Badly:  the CFO was fired for undisclosed violations of the company’s code of conduct, and the only available public evidence suggests he had a very complicated personal life.)  I note, of course, that she is a lawyer, and that it is not all that common for GCs to be promoted to CEO (Frank Blake at The Home Depot being a prominent exception).  But if there is a place where lawyers are not operating under an occupational disadvantage for the CEO’s suite it is the insurance industry, where the product itself is a legal document.

[Jeff Lipshaw]