BE COMMUNITY FOCUSED

EXCELLENCE IN
SERVICE AWARDS

Honoring our volunteers and community builders

The Excellence in Service awards celebrate colleagues who build community inside and outside our company.

In 2024, we recognized the individuals below for extraordinary volunteering, contributions to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and participation in our climate and health resilience initiatives.

These associates embody Blue Cross’s mission to show up for everyone like they’re the only one, and they live our company value to be community-focused, always.

Pinnacle Award Winner

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JEANNIE: Hi, my name is Jeannie Cai, and I work at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. I was born and raised in Dorchester, and my parents are Chinese ethnic immigrants from Vietnam. I grew up with my two younger brothers and I always felt like I wanted to be a person that my brothers could look up to. I give back because when I was younger, I saw how nonprofits and community leaders helped my community.

LUCY: I love the Excellence in Service Awards because it gives us an opportunity to celebrate our colleagues who build community both inside and outside of the company and lives our values.

JEANNIE: It gets me excited to be able to know that what I’m doing is really impacting the community, and I’m doing it with my colleagues.

LUCY: Jeannie has worked here for almost a decade and from the day one she has prioritized being a community builder and being a dedicated volunteer and making connections between our colleagues and organizations that she’s passionate about.

JEANNIE: As part of the Blue Crew, I’ve supported Annie’s Kindness Blankets, Weymouth Food Pantry, Viet Aid, and Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center.

DEVON: BCNC stands for the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. Our mission is to ensure that the children, youth, and families we serve have the necessary resources and supports they need to achieve greater economic success and social and emotional wellbeing. A lot of our children come from bilingual households where the parents don't speak English at all or as a second language.

JEANNIE: For one of our projects with BCNC, we donated children’s books to their afterschool and summer program.

DEVON: When volunteers like Jeannie come in, and assemble care packages or interact with our children, it’s deeply meaningful.

JEANNIE: What's special about this project is that each associate was able to choose from a list of Asian American books. Inside the front cover, I wrote a note to the child about how I never really had books like this growing up. My hope is that when the child receives the book and the note that they understand that they're not alone and that their experiences are shared and appreciated.

JENNIFER: Jeannie's an important part of our compliance team. She's calm and a hard worker and she loves a challenge. Jeannie is a longtime leader of the Asian Blue Community Employee Resource group, and most recently she served as the president.

JEANNIE: We put together the first Blue Cross team to compete in the Boston Dragon Boat race. And in 2023, we won.

ALEXANDRA: Jeannie is a mentor and a leader. We paddled together on the Charles, a group of 24 of us. Jeannie was the lead paddler, and she knew exactly what she was doing.

JEANNIE: It was just so exciting to see a group of associates come together.

RACE PADDLERS: Who are we? Blue Dragons!

JEANNIE: There was a sense of camaraderie and pride to be able to represent Blue Cross as our company.

JEANNIE: There is a saying that is important to me. A thousand candles can be lit with the help of a single candle. It reminds me that no matter how small I think my action is, my single candle can really help the larger community.

LUCY: Jeannie lives our company's values. She's kind, she's curious, she's courageous, she leads by example and of course Jeannie is community focused, always.

DEVON: Congratulations Jeannie. Thank you again for all the time and support you've given to uplifting our Asian and new immigrant children.

JENNIFER: Congratulations, Jeannie.

LUCY: We're so grateful for you and all you do.

ALEXANDRA: Great job, Jeannie. Thanks for bringing so many of us together.

Jeannie Cai

Corporate Compliance Analyst

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Jeannie Cai is a community builder who lives each day to celebrate differences and help others feel included.

As 2023 president of Asian Blue Community, she helped the employee resource group grow its membership, host several events celebrating Asian cultures, and provide discussion forums for important issues in the Asian community. She also co-captained a team of associates who paddled in the Boston Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival Boat Race - and they medaled!

Jeannie led or participated in more than a dozen service projects through Blue Cross last year. Her efforts supported Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Vietnamese American Initiative for Development (VietAID), Annie's Kindness Blankets, Love for Our Elders and Weymouth Food Pantry, among others.

Jeannie has made insightful, energetic contributions to our volunteer and corporate citizenship activities since joining Blue Cross in 2015. She is a corporate compliance analyst in the law department and, earlier, served in quality program oversight.

Raised in Dorchester, Jeannie is the proud daughter of Chinese ethnic immigrants from Vietnam. She attended Boston Latin High School and holds master's and bachelor's degrees from Boston University. She and her husband live in Quincy with their dog, Millie.

"I give back because when I was younger, I saw how nonprofits and community leaders helped my community. It gets me excited to know what I'm doing is really impacting the community and I'm doing it with my colleagues," said Jeannie.

2024 Honorees

Pam Goldman

Senior Account Executive and Senior Strategy,
Communications & Engagement Specialist

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Pam Goldman is a 30-year veteran volunteer with the Pan-Mass Challenge bike-a-thon. As 2023 head of food and beverage at a route site, she coordinated hundreds of volunteers to serve more than 10,000 people. She also is active at the Milford Youth Center, where she started a monthly cooking class to teach young people healthy cooking on a budget.

At Blue Cross, Pam is always searching for ways to engage our colleagues, customers and external partners in social impact activities. As a sales team leader, she planned and facilitated webinars for accounts to spread awareness about the links between climate and health. Also, Annie's Kindness Blankets is especially close to her heart as a BlueCrew volunteer.

"Giving back is my passion. I love who I am the most when I am behind the scenes orchestrating a meaningful project that will improve lives. I hope the work I do sets a good example for my children, my peers and my community," Pam said.

Jennifer Maniates

Associate Data Scientist

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Jennifer Maniates, MA, does all she can to build community and promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging inside and outside our company. In 2023, she contributed to BlueCrew activities supporting Annie's Kindness Blankets, Foster Love and Happy Hope Foundation. She also helped develop a DEIB audit for the Rose Kennedy Greenway through our skills-based volunteer program.

At Blue Cross, Jennifer has worked diligently within our data and analytics community to build culture and engage new associates. She is a member of four employee resource groups and was accepted to participate in the 2024 GenUnity Health Equity Community Leadership Program. Outside of Blue Cross, Jennifer is a yoga teacher who incorporates social justice into her instruction and practice.

"I give back because it is our responsibility to show up for those who need a helping hand, without imposing judgements or expectations. People need kindness without strings attached. I give back because we all need a little compassion, to be seen and heard, to have our experiences validated and our humanity appreciated," Jennifer said.

Dhansham "DK" Khemraj

Lead Network Engineer

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For DK Khemraj, "Love all, serve all" is not only the motto of the Boston Sai Center, but also a philosophy that guides his daily life. In 2023, DK helped the not-for-profit center support recently resettled refugees and people experiencing homelessness. He is also a familiar face at food pantries in Boston and Lowell and a nursing home in Cambridge.

DK is a founder of TCJ Seva Foundation, which provides resources to families in need in his home community of Port Mourant, Guyana. He visited the town last year to distribute medical kits and care packages.

"Imagine a child going to bed without a meal or proper clothing. As a young lad in Guyana, I had firsthand experiences with underprivileged children and families. This was a driving force for me to do whatever I can to help humanity and uplift our society," DK said.

Hayley Bacewicz

Member Service Training Specialist

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As a member service trainer, Hayley Bacewicz conceived of a new way to use our company's volunteer opportunities to help newly hired colleagues feel like they belong. She rallied more than 100 colleagues to join her in a virtual service project to support Love for Our Elders, and participated in other culture-building activities.

As a member of our Women's Inclusion Network employee resource group, Hayley volunteered to assemble packs of feminine hygiene products for low-income and homeless women through Dignity Matters. She also led a service event to benefit Foster Love.

"I grew up in an area where we relied heavily on each other to ensure our needs were met. Without the kindness and generosity of others, I would not be where I am today. Now that I can give back to my community, I try to do so in any capacity possible," Hayley said.

Brooke MacDonald

Member Service Manager

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Brooke MacDonald's lifelong commitment to ending ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is deeply personal. Since losing her mother, grandmother and uncle to the devastating disease, she has poured her heart into fundraising for ALS research and care. In 2023, she raised $8,000 through her family's annual cornhole tournament and participated a "Polar Plunge" fundraiser to benefit ALS ONE, based in Whitman, Mass.

At Blue Cross, Brooke served on her division’s culture committee to support inclusion among her colleagues.

"I get my drive to give back from my mom. I am fortunate to be able to walk, talk and do other daily activities that my mom couldn't do by the end of her life, and I don't take that for granted. Instead, I channel it to do good in her remembrance," Brooke said.