Kaiser Permanente promotes longtime executive to be next CEO

Kaiser Permanente’s board said it will promote a veteran executive to be the next chairman and chief executive of the healthcare giant.

Bernard J. Tyson will replace George Halvorson, 65, who is retiring next year after a long tenure at the helm of the Oakland company.

Tyson, 53, has been Kaiser’s president and chief operating officer for the past two years. He has held a variety of roles during his 28-year career at Kaiser and he’s credited with helping create the company’s “Thrive” advertising campaign.

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Tyson is expected to assume the chief executive role in the middle of next year and take over as chairman in January 2014.

Kim Kaiser, a board member and chairwoman of the company’s search committee, said the full board conducted an extensive search of internal and external candidates before selecting Tyson.

“He has demonstrated excellent leadership and vision for this organization,” she said in a statement.

Halvorson was instrumental in building Kaiser into the nation’s largest nonprofit insurer and hospital system, with more than 9-million customers and nearly $50 million in annual revenue. It employs 17,000 physicians nationwide.

Kaiser is the largest health maintenance organization in California with about 6.6-million members. It also runs 35 hospitals in the state.

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