JIM PURCELL

Jim Purcell is the former CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island. He brings a multidisciplinary perspective that helps audiences understand how to invest in a proven approach for boosting employee physical, mental/emotional, and financial wellbeing and engagement.

Jim explains why low employee wellbeing is eroding profits, how preventable chronic illness accounts for 70% of employer healthcare costs, and how mental, emotional and financial stress is causing low employee engagement and productivity, high turnover, and poor customer service.

His message is simple: the only way employers’ can stop these losses is by addressing employees’ physical, mental/emotional, and financial wellbeing.

Jim draws on data from Deloitte to Gallup that show that whole-person employee wellbeing can deliver enormous returns, including greater engagement and lower turnover, and why employee wellbeing must become a strategic imperative.

Jim founded the Returns On Wellbeing Institute in 2018 to provide a practical, evidence-based framework for designing and implementing effective workplace wellbeing cultures and programs. Along with a team of expert practitioners, he’s conducting research to identify best wellbeing practices. He is a contributor to Forbes.com, and is working on a book to be published in 2021.

Jim graduated from Cornell University and served in Viet Nam with the 101st Airborne Division Pathfinder Team. He attended Boston University Law School, graduating magna cum laude, and practiced as a healthcare trial lawyer for 25 years before becoming COO and later CEO of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island.