About Independence Blue Cross
About us
Our company Executive team
Gregory E. Deavens
Sushma Akunuru
Crystal E. Ashby
Koleen Cavanaugh
Rodrigo Cerdá, M.D.
Kortney Cruz
Donna Crilley Farrell
Stephen P. Fera
Thomas A. Hutton
Paul J. Kane
Kimberly J. Kockler
Susan Larkin
Juan Lopez
Anthony J. Maleno
Brett Mayfield
Richard L. Snyder, M.D.
Paul Staudenmeier
Mike Sullivan
Michael R. Vennera
Emily Zitser
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Sushma AkunuruSenior Vice President, Business Technology Services

Sushma Akunuru is senior vice president of Business Technology Services at Independence Blue Cross (Independence). She is responsible for solutions that meet emerging market demands, improve efficiencies, and strengthen the company’s security posture as well as aligning the company’s technology, application, and security teams.

Ms. Akunuru is a champion of women in leadership and technology and brings more than a decade of experience in financial services and IT-related functions. She serves on the boards of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce and the Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies digital transformation advisory board. As chair of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association CIO Roundtable, she engages in active innovation conversations with other Chief Information Officers. She spearheads the Women in Technology and Analytics event designed to encourage careers in technology at Independence and shares her expertise with the Wharton Health Care Business Conference.

She strongly encourages young people to pursue their interests in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by mentoring and tutoring robotics in her community.

Ms. Akunuru received her MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in computer applications from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India.