Catherine McAlister
Director of Corporate Communications and Public Relations, Highmark West Virginia Charitable Fund for Health
MAGGIE HATFIELD
Photo by John Sibold.
CATHERINE MCALISTER, director of public relations for Highmark West Virginia and executive director of Highmark West Virginia Charitable Fund for Health, always saw herself wearing business suits and heels and working in a high-rise office building. To make this vision a reality, she began her first professional job at Blue Cross Blue Shield West Virginia as an administrative assistant and medical claims coder. From there, her nearly 44-yearlong career path began to take shape.
“ Fate got me here,” McAlister says.“ Then, hard work, determination and loyalty guided my course from there.”
From her start in the medical review department and her role as an administrative assistant to the vice president of sales and, ultimately, her promotion to external service representative, McAlister’ s career path has equipped her with the expertise and experience needed for success. She was eventually promoted to sales manager, but in the mid- 1990s, she was asked to take the role of account executive for the Public Employees Insurance Agency( PEIA).
Once the PEIA contract ended in 2000, McAlister served
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