WellPoint Inc.'s internal audit and chief compliance officer—and highest-ranking black executive—will leave the company later this month, according to a companywide e-mail sent out yesterday.

Randall J. Lewis joined the Indianapolis-based health insurance giant in 2003 when it was called Anthem Inc.

He has since joined numerous central Indiana boards of directors, including the boards of the Purdue Research Foundation, the Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana Black Expo. Lewis also sits on the dean's advisory council at the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, his alma mater.

Before joining WellPoint, Lewis worked at Wells Fargo & Co. and at GE Capital.

WellPoint CEO Angela Braly, in the e-mail announcing Lewis' departure, said she hopes to release a succession plan before Friday. She said she would first discuss it with WellPoint's board of directors.

Braly did not say why Lewis is leaving or where he is going. He has agreed, she said, to stay on to help his successor ramp up.

"I am confident that the professionalism and graciousness which characterized Randall's leadership throughout his career here will be beneficial to all during the transition," Braly wrote.