Our people

Blue Shield offers staff a four-week paid sabbatical after every five years of employment. From traveling to starting new hobbies, three of our people share how they spent their time off.

At Blue Shield of California, we are committed to growing and developing leaders at all levels—including the 40 current members of our internship program for undergraduate and graduate students. We recently checked in with a few of them to hear what they had to say.

As vice president of Corporate Citizenship, Antoinette Mayer leads Blue Shield of California’s efforts to become an industry leader in corporate social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and corporate reputation. In 2019, Antoinette and her team launched the BlueSky initiative to support youth mental health throughout California.

Jackie Ejuwa is vice president of Health Transformation at Blue Shield of California. She and her team work to eliminate health disparities, develop innovative products and find new ways to provide care that is worthy of our family and friends, and sustainably affordable.

Our own Ricquel Jackson works with local nonprofit, Keep Oakland Beautiful, on various cleanup and beautification projects such as painting murals and planting community gardens. She also serves as a board member and recently secured a donation from Blue Shield of California to further her efforts.

Dr. Nina Birnbaum is medical director of Innovation Acceleration at Blue Shield of California. Learn about her recent launch of Virtual Blue, and how she and her team are working to transform health care.

Blue Shield's own Kim Kellogg combines her love of volunteering and horses at Xenophon Therapeutic Riding Center, with support from our Dollars for Doers Program.

“I never thought that reversal of the diabetic diagnosis was even possible. I was always told that once you’re a diabetic, you’re diabetic for life, and I held onto that.” Sheridan Mason changed her life once she accepted a role with Blue Shield and joined the Virta program through Wellvolution to reverse her Type 2 diabetes.

Angie Kalousek-Ebrahimi is the senior director of Lifestyle Medicine at Blue Shield of California. Learn about her work with the MindBody Medicine team, the launch of Wellvolution, and how she and her team are transforming health care.