Commencement Speaker
Kenneth R. Melani, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Highmark, Inc., will deliver the commencement address at Millersville University of Pennsylvania on May 10, 2008.
President and CEO since 2003, Melani is responsible for the day-to-day operations of Highmark Inc. one of the largest Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in the country with 19,000 employees serving more than 23 million people nationally through health, dental, vision and life and casualty insurance products and services. Highmark Inc, operates as Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield in Western Pennsylvania, Highmark Blue Shield in Central Pennsylvania and Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield in West Virginia.
Prior to his appointment as CEO, Melani served as executive vice president of strategic business development and health services and president of Keystone Health Plan West, Highmark’s managed care subsidiary.
Melani joined Highmark in 1989 as its corporate medical director in the medical affairs department. Before joining the company, he was president and chief executive officer of West Penn Cares, Inc., a holding company for several health care ventures. Prior to his work with West Penn Cares, he owned a private practice in internal medicine, which he developed into a multi-location, multi-specialty group practice.
He is chairman of the board of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust; Holy Family Social Services; and Variety, the Children’s Charity of Pittsburgh. He also serves on the boards of Highmark Inc.; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association; Allegheny Conference on Community Development; and Washington and Jefferson College.
Melani has received numerous awards for his dedication to community involvement. The Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh awarded Melani with the 2007 Paul Lackner Person of Vision Award. The award is presented annually to an individual whose vision has made a difference in the lives of people in the Pittsburgh region. The Anti-Defamation League presented Melani with its National American Heritage Award in 2004 as a corporate and a community leader.
In addition, he is a past recipient of the Tony Coelho Award, which recognizes a commitment to hiring people with disabilities; the Allegheny Valley School District Alumni Hall of Fame Award; the Junior Achievement Golden Achievement Award, which symbolizes the organization’s mission to inspire and educate young people to value free enterprise; and the Washington and Jefferson College Alumni Award for Achievement.
Melani is board certified in internal medicine (ABIM) and is a member of the Allegheny County Medical Society, Pennsylvania Medical Society, American Medical Society and the American Society of Internal Medicine. A summa cum laude graduate of Washington and Jefferson College, Melani received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology. He earned a Doctorate of Medicine from the Bowman-Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University and completed his residency in internal medicine at The Western Pennsylvania Hospital in 1982.
