Jacksonville Beach resident Rachel Bechtel, Florida Blue vice president of Product Solutions, has joined the Cathedral Arts Project Board of Directors.
Bechtel joined Florida Blue in 2000 and has held several leadership positions, most recently serving as senior director of Product Solutions, where she was responsible for leading product strategy and development for Employer Markets and Ancillary. Bechtel’s other leadership positions include service manager and operations manager in the service organization, where she managed a team of service advocates and was instrumental in implementing a customer service platform.
“Florida Blue is a longstanding and vital partner in our work to make sure every child has access to an arts-rich education, and I am thrilled to welcome another one of its leaders to our board,” CAP President and CEO Kimberly Hyatt said. “Rachel brings a strategic mindset around how CAP’s work is helping to enrich the quality of life in Northeast Florida coupled with a deep appreciation for and engagement in the arts.”
Upon moving to Jacksonville from the Washington, D.C., area in 1999, Bechtel founded and became the president of the MOMS Club (Moms Offering Moms Support), an organization of stay-at-home moms.
Bechtel has also been active in community and professional organizations, including United Way, Community Connections and the Boys and Girls Club of Northeast Florida. She recently served as the sponsorship chair for Northeast Florida’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. Bechtel was selected to participate in the first GuideWell Leadership Academy and was nominated and selected to be part of the Leadership Jacksonville class of 2015.
Serving on the CAP Board is a natural fit for Bechtel, who said music has been a presence in her life as long as she can remember. “As a child, my family had the good fortune to own a piano,” Bechtel said. “Having the freedom and the means to play a musical instrument had a multi-layered effect on my life. Our piano room was a place where I could retreat, express my feelings, nurture creativity and build confidence as I learned to play.”
She said she believes strongly in CAP’s mission and feels that arts education should not be limited only to those students who are fortunate enough to have the means to pursue it, but should be made available to any student who aspires to create or appreciate the arts.
“Learning to play a musical instrument requires discipline, patience and structure, all of which are valuable tools that children need to advance their individual growth,” she said. “I am proud to be a board member of the Cathedral Arts Project, which affords students the opportunity to pursue their artistic ambitions by providing the necessary funding to achieve this goal."
Photo provided by Cathedral Arts Project
