CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Thomas W. Ross, president of Davidson College and former executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, has been named to the Board of Trustees of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. The BCBSNC board consists of up to 16 community leaders from across North Carolina with diverse backgrounds in health care, business, finance and education.  
 
“We are fortunate to have Tom Ross join the Board of Trustees,” said Jeffrey Houpt, M.D., chair of the BCBSNC Board of Trustees.  “He is recognized as one of the state’s leading citizens in higher education, law and nonprofit leadership. His expertise will be a strong asset to the board and to the governance of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.”  
 
Ross, a Davidson College graduate, took office as the college’s 17th president in August 2007.
 
From 2001 to 2007 he served as executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem, where he worked to increase the influence of nonprofit organizations across the state in public affairs and legislative matters.   Before joining the foundation, Ross had a long and distinguished career in law and the judiciary, serving most recently as director of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts in 1999 and 2000. He was appointed a Superior Court judge in 1984 by former Gov. Jim Hunt, serving as the youngest Superior Court judge in the state at that time. He held the judgeship for 17 years.
 
In the early 1990s he chaired a 23-member panel that recommended a structured sentencing system, which ultimately saved North Carolina taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars without compromising public safety.  
 
A Greensboro native, Ross earned a BA in political science from Davidson in 1972 and law degree with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1975. He was awarded an honorary doctor of laws from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2008. He also serves on the Davidson College Board of Trustees and is a former chair of the Board of Trustees at UNC-Greensboro, among his many board appointments in education, law and community service.    
 
 
About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina:
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is a leader in delivering innovative health care products, services and information to more than 3.7 million members, including approximately 900,000 served on behalf of other Blue Plans. For 77 years, the company has served its customers by offering health insurance at a competitive price and has served the people of North Carolina through support of community organizations, programs and events that promote good health. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Access BCBSNC online at bcbsnc.com.
 
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