Sandra Clarke

Sandra Clarke is executive vice president, chief operating officer at Blue Shield of California, a nonprofit health plan with over $24 billion in annual revenue, serving 4.8 million members in the state's commercial, individual, and government markets. She is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the health plan, implementing strategies to deliver transformational results that improve the health of Blue Shield’s members, physicians, and communities it serves. Clarke leads the company’s operations, transformation, customer experience, growth, and marketing departments. She is also responsible for corporate development, where she plays a senior role in devising and enacting Blue Shield’s strategies to support growth.

Clarke has demonstrated her ability to improve operations in global businesses, with over 25 years of experience directing worldwide organizations in an array of critical industries. Prior to joining Blue Shield in 2018 as chief financial officer, she was senior vice president and US head of finance for pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., and held executive finance roles at Philips Healthcare and Siemens Water Technologies Group.

She actively serves on the board of trustees at Blue Shield of California Foundation, as chairperson of Blue Venture Fund V board, as board of trustees chair of Plan Investment Fund, as a board of manager’s member of CivicaScript, and is a board member (formerly chair) of Evio Pharmacy Solutions. She previously served as a board member of Altais and as board director and audit chair at Metromile (now part of Lemonade, Inc.).

As a recognized thought leader, Clarke has contributed articles to a variety of publications and communicates often with national, state and local media on behalf of Blue Shield of California. She has also spoken recently at notable conferences and podcasts including Reuters Total Health, Health Evolution Summit, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Quartz Network, CFO Leadership Council and Fierce Healthcare’s Podnosis.

Clarke has a Master of Science in healthcare law from Seton Hall University School of Law, a Master of Science in accounting from Bentley University, and a Bachelor of Science in finance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.