Gail Koziara Boudreaux

Gail Koziara Boudreaux (born 1960) is an American businesswoman. She has served as an executive for a number of companies such as Aetna, BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois (2002), and UnitedHealth Group (2008).

In 2020, Boudreaux was ranked 10th on the Forbes list of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women" and ranked 14th in 2023. From 2008 to 2014, she was on the Fortune list of powerful women, peaking at No. 25. In 2015, Boudreaux formed her own healthcare consulting company, GKB Global Health, LLC. In 2017, she became CEO of Elevance Health.

High school
Boudreaux attended Chicopee Comprehensive High School in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Her team twice won the state championship. At 17, she averaged 23.4 points and 20 rebounds a game for the Chicopee Comprehensive girls' basketball team. She ultimately scored a school-record 1,719 career points and was named a Parade All American her senior year. The 6'2" senior center also held the Massachusetts girls' state shot-put record with a throw of 44 feet, six inches.

College
Koziara led the Big Green women's basketball in scoring for three consecutive years, and still holds a substantial number of school records. She became Dartmouth's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, with 1,933 points and 1,635 rebounds in 89 games. She also was named Ivy League Player of the Year three straight seasons, and became a two-time Academic All-American and third team All-American as well. Koziara was honored by the NCAA as a Silver Anniversary Award winner and inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and Dartmouth's Wearers of the Green Hall of Fame. She led the Big Green to the first of their many Ivy League championships. She also won four straight Ivy League women's shot put titles, with a throw of 46 feet, four inches her senior year. That same year she earned All American recognition in the shot put.

She graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1982. She attended business school at Columbia University and graduated with high honors in 1989.

Professional career
She spent 20 years at Aetna, then in 2002 was named president of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois. She became the executive vice president for External Operations at Health Care Service Corporation, which encompasses Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois.

In May 2008 she became executive vice president of UnitedHealthcare at UnitedHealth Group. From January 2011 to November 2014, she served as the chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare, the biggest US insurer, serving 45 million customers with revenue of $120 billion.

In 2015, months after stepping down from her post of CEO for UnitedHeathcare, Gail founded and became CEO of GKB Global Health, LLC, a healthcare strategy and business advisory firm.

On November 6, 2017, Boudreaux was named CEO of Anthem, Inc. which has since re-branded to Elevance Health, Inc.

Awards and recognition
Boudreaux was honored from 2008 to 2021 as one of Fortune's 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business and as one of the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women in The World.
 * In 2020 she was #10 on the Forbes list of The 100 Most Powerful Women.
 * In 2021 she was #16 on the Forbes list of The 100 Most Powerful Women.
 * In 2023 she was #14 on the Forbes list of The 100 Most Powerful Women.

As recently as 2021, Boudreaux was also named by Modern Healthcare as one of the Most Powerful People in Healthcare. She was recognized by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal as one of the top 25 industry leaders, and included on Today's Chicago Woman list of 100 Women of Influence.

In 2018, Boudreaux was awarded the Billie Jean King Contribution Award. In 2022, she was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Award, as well as being inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

In 2023, Boudreaux became the first female elected chair of The Business Council, an association of top CEOs.