Aetna (NYSE: AET) today announced the appointment of Belinda Lang as head of Brand and Consumer Marketing. In this new position, Lang will report to Robert Mead, senior vice president and head of Marketing, Product and Communications. The appointment is effective January 10, 2011.

"We're very pleased to have Belinda Lang join in the effort to take the Aetna brand to the next level,? said Mead. ?As a pioneer of consumerism in health care, Aetna is well-placed to lead the next evolution of the market, where consumers play a much more active role in managing their own health and health care spending. Belinda brings a wealth of experience and consumer insight to the next phase of our brand journey.?

Lang has served as a consultant to Aetna for the past year, working on a comprehensive, integrated marketing and brand campaign highlighting Aetna's leadership in providing consumer tools and information. She previously served as vice president, Consumer Marketing Strategy, for the Consumer Card Services Group at American Express. She began her career at American Express in 1984, taking on increasingly responsible positions in marketing. In her most recent role, Lang launched the award-winning Members Project, which was the company's first significant online, cause-marketing and social media program. For this role, Lang was named one of Advertising Age's Marketing 50 in 2008. Lang also launched American Express' Membership Rewards and drove crucial growth during the early stages of the consumer lending business. Lang is a founding member of the Avatar Research Institute. She has a B.A. degree in art history from McGill University, a M.Sc. degree in occupational therapy from Columbia University and an M.B.A. degree in marketing from New York University.

About Aetna

Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving approximately 35.4 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities and health care management services for Medicaid plans. Our customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com. To learn more about Aetna's innovative online tools, visit www.aetnatools.com.

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