WellPoint Appoints Wayne S. DeVeydt Senior Vice President and Chief Ac

INDIANAPOLIS, May 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WellPoint, Inc. today announced the appointment of Wayne S. DeVeydt as Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer. He will be responsible for the integrity of the company's financial records, accounting operations, SEC reporting and execution of tax policies.

"We are thrilled to have a person of the caliber of Wayne DeVeydt join our leadership team," said David C. Colby, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of WellPoint, Inc. "Based on his strong background and contributions made to date, I am confident that Wayne will play a key role in the future growth of WellPoint."

Prior to joining WellPoint, Mr. DeVeydt served with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in a number of roles including, most recently, as the lead engagement partner for a number of large, national managed care and insurance companies including WellPoint Health Networks Inc.

The announcement follows the November 30, 2004 merger between Anthem and WellPoint Health Networks that formed the new parent company, WellPoint, Inc. creating the nation's leading health benefits company.

About WellPoint, Inc.

WellPoint, Inc. is the largest publicly traded commercial health benefits company in terms of membership in the United States. WellPoint, Inc. is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and serves its members as the Blue Cross licensee for California; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensee for Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area), Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia (excluding the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.), Wisconsin; and through HealthLink and UniCare. Additional information about WellPoint is available at http://www.wellpoint.com/ .