Bold Leader Interview

“If you are truly BOLD, everything you do is a tad bit uncomfortable. You can’t be bold if you’re not courageous and willing to be uncomfortable.” Terri Kline, President and CEO of Health Alliance Plan (HAP), made this observation about halfway through our conversation. From the beginning of our call to the end, she captured many of the traits that distinguish BOLD leadership from all others. Today Terri leads HAP, a 650,000-member, 1300-employee health plan based in Detroit. She came into this role having led from just about every executive position you could have in the healthcare industry with experiences…

Don’t you just love those moments when someone says something so simple, so clear and therefore so brilliant, light bulbs literally go off in your head? I sure do and it happened to me in a recent conversation with Mary Brainerd, CEO of HealthPartners. HealthPartners is the largest consumer governed nonprofit health care organization in the nation, providing health care services and health plan financing and administration serving more than 1.5 million medical and dental health plan members through a care system that includes a multi-specialty group practice of more than 1,700 physicians and over 22,500 employees. Mary joined HealthPartners…

A couple of years ago at a national health care conference, I joined a small breakout group discussion and met Deborah Gage, CEO of Medecision, across the table. I don’t remember much about the discussion, but I know we parted, exchanging business cards, with (at least on my part) a clear desire to talk more and know each other better. Lucky for me and Aveus, Deb and her team at Medecision have been customers of ours since 2013, so I’ve had an up close opportunity to see her bold leadership in action.