Kaiser board names Greg Adams, a senior leader at the HMO, as Bernard Tyson’s successor
The directors of Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente announced Tuesday that Greg Adams will take on the role of chairman and chief executive officer of the health care giant permanently.
He had taken on the two roles on an interim basis after the unexpected death of Bernard Tyson in November.
“Mr. Adams is an accomplished leader with deep experience across Kaiser Permanente’s health plan and hospital operations,” said Edward Pei, chair of the executive committee of the boards of directors. “The boards’ decision to name Mr. Adams to the position demonstrates Kaiser Permanente’s strong internal succession planning process. For more than a decade, Mr. Adams worked on a wide variety of major initiatives and areas of focus, and has led Kaiser Permanente’s work on growing membership, affordability for our members, and transforming and expanding access to care.”
Adams has worked in senior leadership in the health care industry for 30 years, and in the announcement of his appointment, the organization described him as a key leader in driving Kaiser’s mission forward and in strengthening company culture. His past appointments include serving as executive vice president and group president since 2016. In that capacity, he had direct responsibility for health plan and hospital operations in all eight Kaiser regions.
In the news release, Adams stated: “It is truly an honor to be named chairman and CEO of this amazing organization and follow Bernard. He was an exceptional leader who was passionate about and dedicated to Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser ... will continue to move forward together to deliver on our mission: providing high-quality, affordable health care services, improving the health of our members and the communities we serve, and transforming American health and health care.”
Peter DiCicco, who leads a group representing more than 50,000 of Kaiser’s unionized members, said in a statement emailed to The Bee that the appointment of Adams would assure a seamless leadership transition.
“He has a vision for our future, a depth of knowledge in operations and labor management partnership, and experience in the KP system from the ground level up, said DiCicco, executive director of the Alliance of Health Care Unions. “We are confident that with Greg’s record of commitment to labor management partnership, together we will continue to ensure that Kaiser Permanente is the best place to receive care and the best place to work, a community anchor for good, stable jobs and healthy neighborhoods.”
Kaiser has extensive and long-running partnerships with many labor organizations. The company has negotiated new contracts with a number of its union in the past year, but it has not reached a new deal yet with the National Union of Healthcare Workers. The NUHW plans a weeklong strike starting Dec. 16.
A nonprofit health maintenance organization, Kaiser generated more than $80 billion in revenue last year and serves more than 12.2 million members. It has more than 225,000 employees and roughly 25,000 physicians in the Permanente Medical Groups.
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Kaiser board names Greg Adams, a senior leader at the HMO, as Bernard Tyson’s successor."
