Edgewood College: New business dean named at Edgewood College

Contact: Ed Taylor, Director of Marketing & Communications 608-663-2333

Madison, Wis. (April 20, 2010) – Marty Preizler has been named Dean of the School of Business at Edgewood College. The announcement comes after a nationwide search, during which time Mr. Preizler served as Interim Dean.

“Marty Preizler brings a wealth of experience and a keen vision for the future of this College,” Vice President for Academic Affairs Mary Kelly-Powell said. “We met with outstanding candidates for this position over the course of several months, so we’re especially honored to make this announcement. Our internal candidate was also the very best candidate to lead the School of Business at Edgewood College,” Kelly-Powell said. Mr. Preizler has served the College as Director of Graduate Programs for the School of Business.

Mr. Preizler has nearly forty years of leadership experience in government and private business. He has been the President and CEO/COO of three health insurance companies in Madison, Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon. From 1998-2008 he was President and CEO of Physicians Plus Health Insurance Corporation in Madison, with revenues of approximately $400 million, serving 110,000 customers in twenty southern Wisconsin counties. He led Physicians Plus to site-visit status for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2007, and has received the Wisconsin Forward Award quality recognition four times. Physicians Plus has also been certified as an “Excellent” plan by the NCQA. In 2008, Physicians Plus was selected by Madison Magazine, Inc. as one of the seven best places to work in the Madison area.

From 1977 to 1983 Preizler was the Director of the State of Wisconsin’s Medicaid program. During his tenure, one of the first Medicaid HMO’s in the U.S. was launched in the Milwaukee and Madison service areas. Working at University Hospital, he developed University Health Care, Inc. and U-Care in the mid-1980’s, which became Unity Health Plan. He has served on the Boards of the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans and the national Health Plan Alliance.

Mr. Preizler has served on the Board of Trustees at Edgewood College, and teaches an undergraduate Business course entitled “Organizational Effectiveness and Improvement.” He also serves as a lecturer in the College’s Graduate and Professional Studies Programs, and at the UW-Madison School of Nursing. Mr. Preizler holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from UW-Madison, and a master’s degree from the University of Michigan.

About Edgewood College

Located in Madison, WI, Edgewood College is a liberal arts Catholic college in the Dominican tradition, with 2,400 undergraduate and graduate students. It offers more than 40 academic and professional programs, including master’s degrees in business, education, nursing, and other fields, and a doctoral degree in educational leadership. For more information about Edgewood College, please visit http://www.edgewood.edu, or call Ed Taylor in Marketing & Communications at 608-663-2333.