Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming CEO Gore announces retirement; Urbanek to take lead

CHEYENNE – Diane Gore never expected the job she took a week after graduating college in 1985 would become a 40-year career, much less lead her to the top of Wyoming’s only state-based health insurer.

This spring, Gore will retire as president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, with Executive Vice President Kristopher Urbanek set to assume the role in May.

Gore began working for BCBSWY in May 1985, just a week after graduating from the University of Wyoming.

In college, she majored in accounting. Her first role at BCBSWY was in the company’s finance department. She later became the chief financial officer and treasurer, and remained in that position for 15 years before becoming the chief operation officer in 2017 and CEO in 2019.

The first female and fifth CEO in BCBSWY’s 80-year history, Gore faced a rather unique challenge during her tenure that other CEOs before her did not: health coverage during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

To ensure BCBSWY was maintaining easy access to health care for members during the pandemic, Gore had to help implement new initiatives, including tele-health, and adhere to many new health policies being implemented in the state.

“We did that very quickly,” Gore said. “We put all the processes and procedures in place to ensure that people could get the testing that they needed, and that it would be paid for. That people could get the treatment that they needed, and that it would be paid for.”

Because Gore spent four decades with the company, she has seen firsthand how much the Wyoming health insurance landscape has changed.

With new technology being implemented, expensive pharmaceuticals being developed and managing costs in Wyoming’s rural landscape, Gore and the BCBSWY staff have worked hard to maintain communication with health care providers across the state and maintain stability in premiums, she said.

Regardless of the challenges, Gore said she never lost sight of the company’s mission: To provide members with access to local health insurance solutions that prioritize health, care and well-being for those who call Wyoming home.

“We don't always get it right the first time,” Gore said, “but the good thing is that we can always get it fixed if we did miss something. And so we've always kept that in mind. Everything that we do is focused on the member.”

This is the advice that she gives to her successor, Urbanek, who will take over Gore’s position as president and CEO on May 1.

Urbanek has been working at BCBSWY for 11 years, he said. He started in the company’s provider relations department before moving up to oversee the medical and pharmacy departments, along with working in marketing and sales. In 2021, he became the executive vice president.

Urbanek said he began expressing interest to Gore in becoming president and CEO a couple of years ago. He was recently selected by the BCBSWY board to take over.

“It's a big job, obviously,” Urbanek said. “It's a huge responsibility, and certainly something that I'm going to approach with humility. … In that position, you get to sort of drive the vision, the strategy. Where do we want the organization to be? How do we want Blue Cross to show up every day for our members?”

To do that, Urbanek said he has three main goals to focus on during his first year as president and CEO: stay up to speed with where the health insurance industry is headed as a way to be a competitive company; continue to grow the organization to provide more innovative products; and focus on the company’s information technology/data so BCBSWY can have actionable insight into what is going on, and use that information to solve problems.

Urbanek said one of the main problems Wyoming faces is access to health care.

“Wyoming is a unique state, right? Highly rural,” Urbanek said. “So that creates a unique set of challenges. It's something that you don't see everywhere. … There aren’t doctors and hospitals on every corner of every city block in Wyoming. That access to specialty care, to advanced kinds of care, is challenging. Our members have to sometimes drive long distances.”

To combat this, Urbanek said he wants to focus on making sure family practice doctors have a sustainable business model so they can thrive in the state.

“I like to think of health care as sort of a three-legged stool,” Urbanek said. “There's the patient, there's the health care delivery system – your doctors, your hospitals – and we have this financial component. And so, if all three of us are aligned, we can get good outcomes for our members, and hopefully effective and efficient ones, as well.”

If Urbanek were to retire as CEO and president in the future, he said he would define his success as creating a health care system that operates in an integrated way, and creating new solutions to people’s health in a way that is accessible and affordable.

For Gore, that vision is exactly what she hopes to see continue after her retirement.

“I have 100% confidence,” Gore said, “and I can be very comfortable walking out this door knowing that I'm leaving the company in the hands of Kris. He'll continue the legacy of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, and I have no doubt he'll make it even better.”

© 2026 Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Cheyenne, Wyo.). Visit www.wyomingnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.