Richard Lynch

Richard Lynch is chief operating officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the largest private health plan in Massachusetts and one of the largest independent, not-for-profit Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in the country. The company serves nearly 3 million members and is rated among the nation’s best health plans for overall member satisfaction and quality.

Rich is responsible for IT, operations, member and provider service, health and medical management, performance measurement and improvement, pharmacy and consumer solutions, and network management and contracting.

Rich joined Blue Cross in 2018 and has more than 30 years of health plan leadership experience. He previously served as the executive vice president and Northeast region market president for Beacon Health Options. Before that, he was chairman and CEO of Celtic Insurance Co. in Chicago and Celticare Health Plan of Massachusetts. Rich has also held senior positions at WellPoint (now Anthem) and at Tufts Health Plan, where he was VP of network management and operations. He began his career in health care as an intensive care nurse at Children’s Hospital in Boston.

Rich is currently an adjunct professor of health policy at Northeastern University and serves on the board of directors of Eastern Adaptive Sports, Arcadia, VillageMD New Hampshire and the leadership council of The Schwartz Center.

He received his MBA in health care management from Boston University and his Bachelor of Science in nursing from the University of Lowell.