George Halvorson


George Halvorson is the Chair and CEO of the Institute for InterGroup Understanding.

Education

Halvorson holds a B.A. in history, political science and English, from Concordia College. He then took graduate study courses at the University of Minnesota and from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Work

Halvorson is a long-time American healthcare executive who served as Kaiser Permanente CEO and chairman from 2002–2014 before retiring as CEO in 2013 and chair in January 2014. The Kaiser Permanente board of directors elected Bernard Tyson to the CEO role upon Halvorson's retirement. Halvorson was CEO of HealthPartners in Minnesota for 17 years before going to Kaiser Permanente.
Halvorson is the Chair of the First 5 California Commission for children and families. Governor Brown appointed Halvorson to a four-year term as Chair. The Commission uses money raised from tobacco taxes to provide support and education to children in California from birth to five years old.
Halvorson has been the Chair and CEO of the Institute for InterGroup Understanding since June 2012. The Institute works on issues of racism, prejudice, discrimination and InterGroup stress and conflict. Halvorson has published nine books on health care reform including Health Care Co-Ops in Uganda with the most recent being Ending Racial, Ethnic and Cultural Disparities in American Health Care.
Halvorson has also published four books on instinctive interactions for groups of people: Primal Pathways, The Cusp of Chaos, The Art of InterGroup Peace, Peace in Our Time, and one book on early childhood brain development, Three Key Years.
Halvorson was chair of the health governors at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He was also Chair of The International Federation of Health Plans. He also chaired The Partners for Quality Care and chaired The American Association of Health Plans. He is an emeritus board member for the International Federation of Health Plans.

Awards and recognition

In 2015 Halvorson received the IMPACT Visionary Award from AdAge. He is a member of the Bay Area Council Business Hall of Fame. In 2015, Halvorson was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame, held during Norsk Høstfest.