Anthem's Sales Development Program

Elevance Health is committed to supporting people across their entire health journey. Our name reflects our purpose: to elevate whole health and advance health beyond healthcare for individuals, families, and communities. Through our affiliated companies, we serve more than 118 million people, including over 45 million health plan members.

Briefly describe the nominated organization or individual: history and past performance (up to 1,250 characters):

In an organization of more than 100,000 associates, we believe the next generation of high-performing sellers are already inside the enterprise-it simply needs a visible path forward. Anthem Blue Cross, a core operating brand of Elevance Health, is a leading health benefits organization serving employers, members, and communities across the United States. Within its Commercial business, Anthem Blue Cross has consistently performed in one of the most complex and highly regulated services industries by emphasizing consultative selling, deep healthcare expertise, and long-standing broker and client relationships.

Historically, Anthem Blue Cross has invested heavily in enterprise learning, leadership development, and sales enablement to ensure its workforce evolves alongside changing customer expectations, regulatory requirements, and market dynamics. As workforce demographics shift and competition for experienced healthcare sales talent intensifies, the organization recognized a growing challenge: many high-potential associates possessed strong client-facing skills, business acumen, and leadership capability-but lacked a clear, supported pathway into sales.

Rather than relying solely on external hiring, we chose to invest inward. The Commercial Sales Development Program (SDP) was created to formalize sales development, accelerate readiness, and unlock internal talent at scale. The program builds on Anthem's history of performance excellence while reinforcing its commitment to career mobility, retention, and growing leaders of the future from within.

Outline the nominated achievements since July 1, 2023 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 1,500 characters):

Career change can feel overwhelming-especially in a large organization-but SDP was designed to turn uncertainty into opportunity.

Since July 1, 2023, Anthem's Sales Effectiveness and Training team has successfully designed, launched, and scaled its Commercial Sales Development Program (SDP), a 10-week, cohort-based sales training and coaching initiative that creates a visible, credible pathway into sales for high-potential associates across the enterprise. Open to eligible associates from any department, SDP removes traditional barriers that often prevent talented individuals from pursuing sales after beginning their careers elsewhere.

The program launched with a pilot cohort in Q1 2024 and expanded in 2025, demonstrating strong internal demand, leadership sponsorship, and measurable outcomes. SDP delivers a comprehensive, healthcare-specific curriculum that includes health insurance fundamentals, funding concepts, underwriting, compliance and regulation, broker and account planning, consultative selling, and executive-level presentation skills.

A defining achievement of SDP is its blended learning model, which combines:

• Live, instructor-led virtual training led by program facilitator and cohort coach
• Self-paced learning to accommodate working professionals
• Applied workshops and cohort discussions
• A multi-day in-person immersive experience designed to simulate high-stakes sales environments

Learning culminates in a capstone workshop, where participants demonstrate their ability to synthesize product knowledge, client needs, and strategic messaging-receiving structured feedback from experienced coaches.

Equally impactful is SDP's mentorship-first design. Every participant is paired one-on-one with a seasoned commercial sales mentor who provides coaching, shadowing opportunities, and career guidance during and after the program. This model ensures learning translates into confidence, readiness, and real-world application.

Measured outcomes from 2024 and 2025 cohorts underscore the program's success:

• 5/5 overall satisfaction rating from participants and mentors
• 71% of participants promoted into sales or sales-adjacent roles following completion
• 43% actively interviewing for open sales roles during or immediately after the program
• 100% reporting increased responsibility and performance in their current roles
• 73% improvement in learning outcomes based on pre- and post-program assessments

These achievements confirm SDP's ability to accelerate readiness, enable career mobility, and strengthen Anthem Blue Cross's internal sales pipeline.

Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 1,500 characters):

Many sales programs teach skills. Few reliably change careers-at enterprise scale.

The Commercial Sales Development Program is unique because it combines healthcare-specific sales mastery with enterprise-wide career mobility, delivering measurable outcomes in one of the most complex service industries. Unlike traditional sales training programs that focus on onboarding or standard selling techniques, SDP is intentionally designed for associates who did not begin their careers in sales but demonstrate the potential to succeed.

In an organization with more than 100,000 associates, SDP challenges a long-standing assumption: that future high-performing sellers must be hired externally. Instead, the program proves that internal talent-when given structure, mentorship, and opportunity-can transition successfully into market-facing roles. This approach significantly reduces reliance on external hiring while strengthening retention, engagement, and cultural continuity.

SDP's impact is distinguished by both scale and substance. Promotion rates of 71% in the first year, demonstrate real career transformation rather than theoretical readiness. The fact that 100% of participants reported increased responsibility and performance shows immediate on-the-job impact-even for those who had not yet moved into sales roles. Strong learning gains (73% improvement) validate the program's applied, healthcare-specific curriculum.

The program's blended design-virtual learning, self-paced content, in-person immersion, and one-on-one mentorship-sets it apart from competitors that rely on transactional or classroom-only approaches. Participants are not only trained; they are coached, sponsored, and encouraged to see themselves as sellers.

SDP represents a strategic evolution: shifting from role-based development to enterprise talent cultivation. It creates a visible path for sellers of the future while aligning workforce strategy with long-term business growth. This combination of human-centered design, measurable outcomes, and scalability positions Anthem Blue Cross as a leader in sales training and coaching within the healthcare services industry.

Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 1,500 characters):

The supporting materials included with this nomination provide tangible evidence of the Commercial Sales Development Program's design, execution, and impact. Pre- and post-program learner assessments and survey summaries validate reported outcomes, including satisfaction ratings, learning gains, and increased confidence in sales competencies.