Strategies for 2024

Steve Maike, R.PH.  

Chief Pharmacy Officer 

Steve has more than 35 years of experience as a pharmacy and health care leader. Previously, he was the Director of Pharmacy Programs for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin, with operational and clinical oversight for over 1 million lives in PPO and HMO plans. In prior roles at Trivantage Pharmacy Strategies, Thomson Reuters/Truven and Towers Watson, he served as a Consulting Pharmacist specializing in assisting Fortune 500 employers, Taft-Hartley Trust Funds, regional health plans, health care provider organizations and state and municipal customers in their PBM procurement and auditing. He is the longest-tenured member of the State of Wisconsin’s Medicaid Advisory Board, serving the last five governors. Steve graduated from the University of Wisconsin with his pharmacy degree, completed his internship in hospital pharmacy and is currently licensed in Wisconsin. 

Christopher Bao

Vice President, Regulatory and Legislative Strategy

With over ten years of regulatory and legislative strategy experience, Christopher Bao serves as the Vice President – Regulatory and Legislative Strategy in the Employee Benefits division of Brown & Brown. In his role, Christopher is responsible for researching, analyzing, presenting and advising parties on strategies and best practices for group health plans. He also supports internal colleagues and Brown & Brown customers by reviewing and analyzing both federal and state laws that govern Employee Health and Welfare Benefit plans. These areas include HIPAA, the Affordable Care Act, ERISA and COBRA.​

Christopher has experience in employee health and welfare benefits and seven years of litigation experience. Prior to joining Brown & Brown, he worked at a large international insurance brokerage firm in the areas of compliance and Employee Health and Welfare Benefits. Prior to that role, Christopher worked as a litigator in private practice. He joined Brown & Brown in August of 2022. 

Dave Ross

As an Executive Vice President, David’s role is to provide guidance and leadership that fosters each office’s ability to satisfy their growth objectives. David is a key player in defining Brown & Brown’s macro initiatives and providing the vision, tools and education to support those objectives.

David’s secondary role is the Director of Underwriting Services where his primary responsibilities include the development and maintenance of financial tools and methodologies that improve clients’ ability to effectively manage their employer-sponsored health plans. David’s role keeps him actively involved in the management of key accounts, representing more than 300,000 members.

Additionally, David acts as a national resource and the primary source of both internal and external education and support regarding efficient health plan structure. David spends much of his time traveling around the country educating consultants, employers and legislative bodies on the many counter-intuitive and nuanced components of effective health care cost management.

Previously, David worked as an Underwriting Strategist at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota where he designed pricing methodologies that satisfied Blue Cross Blue Shield’s strategic objectives. During his tenure, David acted as an internal liaison between actuarial, underwriting and sales and assisted with BCBS’s lobbying efforts to expand the HDHP marketplace.David has periodically taught statistics at Minnesota State University where he earned his bachelors degree in Finance.