BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD HIRING FOR CENTER

Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield is in the process of hiring employees for the new claims and customer-service office.

"Everything is running ahead of schedule, and we expect to be in our new building by mid-December," said Fred Brussee, president and chief operating officer of Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield, which announced in July that it was moving part of its service operations to Cape Girardeau.

Brussee and 15 members of the Blue Cross Blue Shield management team were in Cape Girardeau Wednesday to meet with city and county officials and business people.

"We're thrilled to be here, and everything has been positive," Brussee told a noon gathering at Drury Lodge.

Brussee said about 80 to 85 percent of the center's employees will be from the Cape Girardeau area.

"We gave employees at St. Louis the option of transferring," said Brussee. "But the majority of them opted to remain in St. Louis."

Brussee introduced the two new site managers for the center -- Pat Lemons of Brighton, Ill., and Olivia L. Quinn of St. Louis.

"Quinn has already moved to Cape Girardeau and Lemon will be moving here in the near future," said Brussee.

Lemons will be responsible for national- and custom-account departments, and Quinn will be responsible for direct-pay and group-billing units and BlueCHOICE claims and customer-service departments.

Blue Cross Blue Shield is interviewing and testing for staff position.

"We have conducted one job fair, and we've had some great resumes," said Morrey Berger, vice president of human resources. "We have more than 700 applications."

Two more jobs fairs are scheduled this week: Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 9 a.m. at Drury Lodge. Another job fair will be held later.

The job fairs are four-hour sessions and include testing for positions.

The salary range for positions range between $15,000 and $17,000 plus a benefits package, said Clara Webb Kinner, manager of public relations and corporate communications.

Training for new employees will start Oct. 21, said Berger.

The company will operate a temporary training center at the West Park Office Building, 351 S. Silver Springs Road.

The December opening is about two weeks ahead of schedule. When the initial announcement of the 42,000-square-foot building was made, the company expected to be operating here Jan. 1.

Cape Girardeau Mayor Albert M. Spradling III and Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Joe Gambill welcomed the new business to town.

"The city is on the grow, and we're proud that Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield will be here to grow with it," said Spradling. "We're proud to welcome our newest company to Cape Girardeau."

"You'll like it in Cape Girardeau," said Gambill. "It's a good place to live and work."