This year’s panel of judges decided—unanimously—to bestow the honor on a single leader: Bernard J. Tyson, the former chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, who passed away in November 2019 at the age of 60.

Since becoming CMS administrator in 2017, I participated in several events with Bernard J. Tyson. Our discussions—on the healthcare system’s problems and how to solve them—were reliably robust and lively. I always came away having learned something new.

Bernard J. Tyson was a champion of Kaiser Permanente’s groundbreaking Labor Management Partnership, the largest and most successful such partnership in the U.S. His championship of the partnership was characteristic of his willingness to innovate.

What a privilege afforded us to have known Bernard J. Tyson, and for many others to have walked with him. It is true, we cannot walk in his shoes, but we can walk in his path.