Tributes continue to pour in for Bernard Tyson, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, who unexpectedly passed away early Sunday at the age of 60. Tyson ran the nation’s largest nonprofit integrated healthcare provider since 2013 and designed an industry-transforming model of tech innovation, strategic investment and affordable healthcare during a career that spanned three decades. One of BLACK ENTERPRISE’s 300 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America, Tyson served as a powerful, unequivocal voice for access and advancement of healthcare, corporate diversity best practices at all levels and racial equality.
During his tenure at Oakland-based Kaiser, a non-for-profit hospital and health insurance system serving roughly 12.3 million people in eight states and the District of Columbia, he expanded the company’s workforce from 174,000 to 218,000 and increased its operating revenue from $53 billion to nearly $83 billion, according to new reports.