Stephen E. Bablitch

STEPHEN E. BABLITCH joined Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin
(‘Blue Cross’) and United Wisconsin Services, Inc. (‘UWS’) in 1996 as
General Counsel and Vice President. He became General Counsel and Senior
Vice President of Cobalt Corporation when UWS combined with Blue Cross
in 2001. Since August 2000, Mr. Bablitch has been responsible for
overseeing four medical group business units, the Northwest and
Southwest Regions of Blue Cross and two of the Company’s HMOs, Unity
Health Plans Insurance Corporation (Madison) and Valley Health Plan,
Inc. (Eau Claire). In 1999, Mr. Bablitch was assigned the responsibility
of leading the conversion of Blue Cross from a not-for-profit company to
a shareholder-owned insurer and then merging Blue Cross with UWS. The
conversion and merger were completed in August of 2001. Cobalt
Corporation is now one of three publicly traded Blue Cross and Blue
Shield Plans in the nation. From 1991 to 1996, Mr. Bablitch was a
partner in the law firm of DeWitt, Ross & Stevens in Madison, Wisconsin,
where Blue Cross was one of his principal clients. Mr. Bablitch began
his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in Madison,
Wisconsin, working under James E. Doyle, now Wisconsin’s Attorney
General. In 1986, then-Governor Tommy Thompson appointed Mr. Bablitch to
head Wisconsin’s correctional system, the state’s single largest state
agency. Mr. Bablitch served in Governor Thompson’s cabinet as Secretary
of the Department of Corrections until 1991. Mr. Bablitch graduated from
the University of Wisconsin’Madison with distinction in 1976. Mr.
Bablitch attended the University of Wisconsin’Madison law school and
received his Juris Doctor (JD) in 1979. Mr. Bablitch currently serves on
the following boards: The Board of Directors of HospiceCare of Dane and
Rock Counties; The Board of Trustees of the Nature Conservancy’Wisconsin
Chapter; and The University of Wisconsin Law School-Remington Center
Board of Directors.