It's no secret that Blue Cross and Blue Shield has many ties to the UNC system.
One connection caused some conflict as a UNC search committee zeroed in on Davidson College's Tom Ross, left, as its new president, Eric Ferreri reports on our Campus Notes blog.
Blue Cross CEO Brad Wilson was a member of the UNC search committee and had to avoid participating in the deliberations that led to Ross' selection. And now Ross, who joined the Blue Cross board in March, may have to resign that position.
The health insurer's bylaws require that board members offer to step down if they change jobs. However, the board doesn't necessarily have to accept that resignation, so Ross may indeed remain on that board, Wilson said last week. The matter has yet to be addressed.
Blue Cross hasn't disclosed what it's paying Ross for his board work. Other board members were paid $33,047 to $51,314 last year, Blue Cross reported in a filing with the N.C. Department of Insurance.
Wilson is a former chairman of the UNC system's board of governors. There are others who split time between UNC and Blue Cross, including a second member of the UNC presidential search committee, Walter Davenport, who sits on the BlueCross board as well. He did not sit out the Ross interviews because he is not a BlueCross employee, as Wilson is, and thus didn't have the same conflict.
Ross was hired last week to head the 220,000-student system. He starts work Jan. 1 and will earn $525,000 annually.
Read the full Campus Notes report here.
Assistant Business Editor Alan M. Wolf joined the N&O in 1999 covering the business of health care. He became an editor in 2001, and helps oversee the paper's daily business coverage and Sunday Work&Money section. He lives in Clayton with his wife and two children. Reach him at 919-829-4572 or