Linda Willett joined Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, in January 2010. Prior to joining Horizon, Ms. Willett was a Partner in the New York office of Sedgwick, Detert, Moran and Arnold and was Chair of the firm’s Drug and Medical Device practice group. Before that, she was Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Bristol-Myers Squibb for almost twelve years, during which she supervised attorneys in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America. Ms. Willett began her legal practice at McCarter & English where she became a Partner in 1994. Before attending law school, she directed research and managed new product development at the Lederle Laboratories and Shulton, Inc. divisions of the American Cyanamid Company.

Ms. Willett chairs the Board of Legal Momentum, the nation’s oldest women’s rights advocacy group. She is on the boards of The Women’s Forum of New York, The Learning Spring School for Children on the Spectrum of Autism and the Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation. Ms. Willett is a member of the Economic Club of New York and the European Justice Forum, which she helped to found. Ms. Willett has received numerous awards for her pro bono work in support of women and diversity in the workplace including the Partnership for Gender-Specific Medicine’s Athena Award and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association American Lawyer Media Diversity Award.

Ms. Willett received undergraduate and graduate degrees in science education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Duquesne University through National Science Foundation grants awarded to train teachers in the sciences. Her Masters in Library Science and Juris Doctor degrees are from Rutgers University.