PHOENIX (March 20, 2026) – Paula Shepherd, a 25-year veteran of health care coverage leadership, has been named senior vice president and chief operating officer of Banner Plans and Networks, which serves 1.2 million people across six states.
In this role, Shepherd will advance Banner Plans and Networks’ mission to transform the health care delivery by aligning insurance with coordinated care. As part of the nation’s few fully integrated nonprofit health systems, Banner Health delivers care at hundreds of locations throughout Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, California and Nebraska. Banner Plans and Networks is built to keep people healthier for longer. This prevention-focused philosophy allows Banner to coordinate care seamlessly and reinvest every dollar into the communities its serves.
Shepherd’s appointment took effect on March 16. She most recently served as executive vice president of health plan operations and technology for a respected insurer serving 1.9 million people in Louisiana.
“Paula gained great insight into member experience, plan operations and provider services during her tenure in Louisiana,” said Chuck Lehn, president of Banner Plans and Networks. “We are very excited that she is bringing that experience in a critical time of expansion in our organization. We're building a sustainable model to make world-class care more affordable and accessible to all patients.”
Shepherd was senior vice president of benefit operations and vice president of claims operations at Blue Cross in Louisiana, from 2021 to 2024, when she took over as an executive vice president. Prior to that she was senior counsel and corporate remediation officer, leading that office for a little over a year after being the office’s attorney for nearly nine years. She was an operations manager for nearly eight years after starting with Blue Cross in 2000.
Shepherd earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Southern University in Baton Rouge, a masters of business administration from the University of Phoenix and a juris doctorate from the Southern University Law Center. She holds a diversity and inclusion certificate from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and is a certified health insurance executive through America’s Health Insurance Plans.
About Banner Health
Banner Health is one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the country and a leader in provider-sponsored health insurance serving 3.5 million people annually across six states. With 33 hospitals and more than 450 additional care sites, Banner’s array of services includes a health insurance division, employed physician groups, outpatient surgery centers, urgent care locations, home care and hospice services, retail pharmacies, stand-alone imaging centers, physical therapy and rehabilitation, behavioral health services, a research division, and a nursing registry. Through its longstanding, innovative relationship with the University of Arizona, Banner’s academic medicine division provides ground-breaking clinical discoveries, advanced life-saving care and educates 1,300 physicians annually. Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, a partnership with one of the world’s leading cancer programs, MD Anderson Cancer Center treats more than 103,000 patients a year. Banner Plans and Networks offers Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial health coverage to more than 1.2 million members. In 2024, Banner Health provided $1 billion worth of community benefits to assist those in need through a range of programs. Headquartered in Arizona, Banner Health also has locations in California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, and Wyoming. For more information, visit bannerhealth.com.
For further information contact us at: [email protected]
