Steve Abell is responsible for the development and management of strategic alliances for the enterprise. Alliance building allows the enterprise to build virtual scale, deploy new capabilities to the market and effectively compete against high volume competitors. Abell joined Arkansas Blue Cross in 1996 as operations manager of the West Central Regional Office in Fort Smith. He was promoted to regional executive in 1997 and vice president of Enterprise Networks in 2006. A native of Ohio, Abell received his bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University and is a graduate of the Wharton School’s Advanced Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania.