Highmark Health announced Wednesday that longtime Reed Smith partner Carolyn Duronio has been named general counsel.

Duronio will begin her role as general counsel Jan. 6. She will oversee a staff of approximately 110 employees. She said in an interview Thursday that she began working with Pittsburgh-based Highmark Health in 1986 as outside counsel and this opportunity seemed to be a good fit.

"I've always loved the organization. There is so much going on in health care right now, and Highmark Health is going to be right in the middle of it," Duronio said.

She said she is looking forward to the challenges of working at an organization like Highmark Health.

"Working with an organization that has a really large insurer means that you're going to look for new ways to provide community-based health care at a higher quality and a lower cost," Duronio said.

Duronio will be joining Highmark Health as a part of its transition plan to replace chief legal officer Tom VanKirk. VanKirk will be retiring from his role at the end of 2020, at which point Duronio will take over as chief legal officer and executive vice president. VanKirk became chief legal officer of Highmark Health in March 2012.

Duronio has worked at Reed Smith in Pittsburgh her entire career. She joined in 1984 and became a partner in 1992. She has spent most of her career supporting tax-exempt organizations.

"There are no words to describe the impact Carolyn has had on Reed Smith and on the Pittsburgh community throughout her 35-year career. Through her law practice and her community service, she has advanced the efforts of nonprofits to do good for people in so many walks of life across Pennsylvania and beyond," Sandy Thomas, global managing partner at Reed Smith in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.

Duronio said Reed Smith has been "spectacularly supportive" throughout her career.

Highmark Health is one of the nation's largest nonprofit hospitals and Blue Cross Shield-affiliated insurers. It employs over 35,000 people in the U.S.