William L. Jews was elected to Ryland's board of directors in 1994 and was named to his current position, chairman of the board, on April 28, 2010. He serves on Ryland's compensation and nominating and governance committees.
Mr. Jews is the former president and chief executive officer of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, a leading mid-Atlantic health care company. He also served as president and chief executive officer of two operating affiliates, CareFirst of Maryland, Inc. and Group Hospitalization and Medical Services, Inc. in Washington, D.C., and was chief executive officer of a third affiliate, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware.
Mr. Jews was named president and chief executive officer of the former Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland in April 1993, at a time when the company faced severe financial and operational difficulties. Mr. Jews established new corporate strategic positioning, including synergistic acquisitions and mergers to form Carefirst, Inc, a not-for-profit holding company that included the BlueCross Plans of Maryland, the National Capital Area and Delaware.
During his tenure, Carefirst grew to seventh ranked Plan among the Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans with more than $5 billion in annual revenues, nearly three million customers, and the nation's largest federal employee health benefit program. With more than 6,000 associates in five states and the District of Columbia, a CareFirst company won the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association's Brand excellence Award for nine consecutive years.
Since joining the Ryland board, Mr. Jews has been involved in practically all aspects of the business and has been instrumental in the company's strategic growth and marketplace positioning.
In February 2008, Mr. Jews was elected Ryland's outside lead director.
Mr. Jews currently also serves on the board of directors of Choice Hotels International, KCI Technologies, Fortress International Group, and is an advisor to Camden Investments and Sterling Venture Partners.
A native of Cambridge, Maryland, Mr. Jews earned his bachelor's degree in social and behavioral sciences from The Johns Hopkins University in 1974. He received a master's degree in urban planning and policy analysis from Morgan State University in 1976 and was honored by that university with an honorary doctoral degree in 1999.
Mr. Jews is active in numerous community and civic organizations including recently completing a term as Governor in the Baltimore Office of the Federal Reserve Bank.
Larry T. Nicholson was promoted to chief executive officer of Ryland on May 29, 2009, elected to the board of directors on May 4, 2009 and named president of Ryland on September 30, 2008.
Mr. Nicholson has more than 25 years of experience in the homebuilding industry including more than a decade at Ryland. He joined Ryland in March 1996 as vice president of operations for the Southeast region and subsequently ran the Greenville and Orlando divisions before being promoted to Southeast region president in 2004. He assumed the position of executive vice president and chief operating officer in June 2007.
Over the course of his career, Mr. Nicholson's experience has included overseeing Ryland's homebuilding regions and divisions, including land acquisitions, sales and marketing, purchasing, and safety operations. He was also responsible for determining long-term strategy, capital allocations, and other leadership and organizational decisions.
After graduating from Ohio University in 1979, Mr. Nicholson played professional baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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