Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield President and CEO Curtis Barnett will be the keynote speaker of the Davis Family Lecture Series on Oct. 22 at the University of Central Arkansas College of Business.
Barnett’s talk, “Challenge & Culture: A Career in Healthcare at Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield,” will begin at 1:40 p.m. in the College of Business auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.
Barnett began his career at Arkansas Blue Cross in 1993 as a primary care network plan manager and has served as manager of product development, director of enterprise managed pharmacy and vice president of operations for BlueAdvantage Administrators of Arkansas. He was president and CEO of USAble Corporation from 2008 to 2016.
He was named president and CEO of Arkansas Blue Cross in 2017. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president of internal operations. Arkansas Blue Cross is the largest health insurer in Arkansas with more than 3,000 employees.
Barnett serves on various industry boards, including BCS Financial, Life and Specialty Ventures, the National Institute of Healthcare Management, the Partnership for a Healthy Arkansas, USAble Corporation and the Western Conference of Prepaid Medical Plans.
He is an active supporter of UCA, his alma mater, and serves on the College of Health and Behavioral Sciences’ advisory board. In 2018, he received UCA’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.
The Davis Family Lecture Series was established in 2010 through a gift from Granger and Jan Davis, and Milton and Claudia Davis. The series features prominent business leaders who have made a significant impact in an industry. Past speakers include John W. Bachmann, Steve Williams, Hank Henderson, Reynie Rutledge, Marcy Doderer, Millie Ward and Johnny Allison.
The UCA College of Business has more than 1,600 undergraduate and graduate students. It offers 13 baccalaureate degrees, two master’s and one graduate certificate across four academic departments and houses the state’s only insurance and risk management program. The UCA College of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Visit uca.edu/business for more.