Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare – 2010

As executive vice president for health plan and hospital operations for Kaiser Permanente, Bernard Tyson leads a team of presidents who run the managed-care giant's eight regions. Tyson, 51, is also accountable for all aspects of patient care, and is the senior executive for Kaiser's 29 hospitals, 400 medical office buildings and a workforce of 150,000 employees. He has overseen the opening of 14 hospitals and 55 medical office buildings as part of Kaiser Permanente's nine-year, $27 billion capital spending plan. He first joined the Oakland, Calif.-based integrated health system in 1981 as an administrative analyst. "Through Tyson's vision, Kaiser Permanente is redefining the way care is performed at the bedside, " says Kaiser Chairman and CEO George Halvorson.