Curt Westen, 2010 - Curt Westen was a member of the Leatherneck Football program from 1978-82, earning a letter his final three years. As an offensive lineman (center), Westen received Honorable Mention All-America honors from Associated Press in 1981 and 1982. During his final two years he earned All-Conference honors and received recognition for his work in the classroom. Westen was chosen Academic All-Conference and Academic All-American in 1981-82, earning a 4.0 GPA during the fall semester both years. During the 1981 season he was named 'Offensive Player of the Week' six times by the coaching staff, and at the time was the only Leatherneck to receive All-Conference, All-American and Academic All-America honors in the same season.
He received his bachelor's degree from Western Illinois in 1982 and a MBA the following year. Westen earned his Juris Doctor degree from California-Berkley Boalt Hall School of Law in 1986. His career began in Chicago working for the law firm Lord, Bissell and Brook. Westen served from 1993 to 2007 as General Counsel for Health Net, a Fortune 500 company based in Los Angeles, California. In his career he was appointed by the Governor to the State of Colorado's Cooperative Healthcare Agreements Board, and also served on the Board for the Children's Burn Foundation in Los Angeles. Since 1995 Westen has delivered industry speaking engagements on health care merger and acquisition activities.
Westen currently is a member of the Executive Management team for a portfolio company of The Blackstone Group, HealthMarkets/Insphere, in Dallas, Texas.
A regular contributor to Leatherneck Athletics and the Western Illinois School of Business over the past 25 years, Westen's father Brodie served as the football program's assistant coach from 1971-73 and was head coach from 1974-75. His brothers Rich and Joe also played football at Western as Curt and three of his brothers would graduate from WIU. Westen married Sue Heubner in 1987, whose father and two brothers graduated from Western and mother also attended school at WIU. Curt was football teammates with his eventual brother-in-law Jay from 1978-81.
He and his wife Sue own The Westen Group, a real estate development group in Denver, Colorado, and have two sons, Zack and Dane.
Â
