Lois Quam

Lois Elaine Quam (born 1961) is an American executive who has worked in the public and the private sectors to expand access to health care.^[1] She was named three times to FORTUNE's list of the most influential women leaders in business,^[2] She has also served as a top leader at a major nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the environment.

Lois Quam
Personal details
Born	Lois Elaine Quam 1961 (age 61–62)
Political party	Democratic
Education	Macalester College (BA) Trinity College, Oxford (MA)

Professional career

As founding CEO of Ovations, a division of the FORTUNE 50 global corporation UnitedHealth Group (UNH) which provides health care and insurance benefits to seniors and public program beneficiaries, Quam and her team grew revenues to $32 billion in the span of eight years. She led a workforce of over 25,000 people and had direct responsibility for strategy, financial and operational performance, and business risk management at Ovations. Quam was instrumental in AARP's decision to award UnitedHealth the $4 billion health insurance program offered to AARP members, the largest transfer of an insurance offering in U.S. history. During her 17-year career at UnitedHealth, the company's revenues soared 17,000 percent and the stock price surged 400-fold.

Quam's concerns about a warming climate also led her to leadership roles in the environmental space.^[3] Her move into this arena was seen by observers as a sign that experienced leaders were moving into this sector because of climate change. Steven Greenhouse, wrote in the New York Times, “With scientists voicing increased concern about climate change, some highly talented people have left other fields to help build the green economy. For instance, Lois Quam, who helped create and run a $30 billion division of UnitedHealth Group, a health insurer, has joined the renewable energy cause.”^[4][5] In Thomas L. Friedman's book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Quam calls the opportunity to invest in the new energy economy a “quintessentially American opportunity,” and “one of those national projects that is about big profits and big purposes; not just about making America richer, but the world better.”^[6] Quam worked in renewable energy investing and advised Norwegian environmental concerns.

In 2017, Quam accepted the position as President & Chief Executive Officer at Pathfinder International, a US-based nonprofit working in more than 20 countries to champion sexual and reproductive health and rights,^[7]

Public service

A citizen advocate for health care reform, in 1989 the morning after she gave birth to her first son, Quam was asked by Minnesota's Governor to chair the Minnesota Health Care Access Commission.^[8] The commission's recommendations resulted in legislation that created Minnesota Care bringing health insurance to tens of thousands of Minnesotans.^[9] As a result of her work in Minnesota, she served as a senior advisor to the President's Task Force on Health Care reform in 1993, with a particular focus on rural areas.

She was chosen by President Obama to head his signature Global Health Initiative at the Department of State, which provided more than $8 billion annually to work across 80 countries.^[10] Reporting directly to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Quam advanced a comprehensive strategy to increase U.S. global health diplomacy, created a $200 million public private partnership around maternal mortality, and introduce integrated systems approaches for global health problems.^[11]

From 2014 to June 2016, Quam was Chief Operating Officer at The Nature Conservancy. In 2017, she became the President & CEO of Pathfinder International.^[7]

She currently is an associate member of the faculty in the Division of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University's School of Public Health.

She has published article in the field of global health,^[12] rural health,^[13] and health policy.^[14][15][16]

Boards

Quam currently serves as a director of The Commonwealth Fund,^[17] member of the Council on Foreign Relations, advisory council member of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and vice chair of The Performance Theater.^[18]

Quam is a member of the Presiding Bishop's Advisory Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She previously served on the Commission for a New Lutheran Church and was a delegate from the American Lutheran Church to the World Council of Churches Assembly in 1983.

Quam serves on the trustee advisory board at the Center for American Progress having formerly served as a fellow at the center.

Quam has served on the board of editors for the British Medical Journal, and the boards of General Mills, Macalester College, the George C. Marshall Foundation and the University of Minnesota Foundation.

A Minnesotan native of Norwegian descent, she was named Norwegian American of the Year in 2005,^[19] and has written on Norway's role in the global economy.^[20]

Education

A Rhodes Scholar, Quam has degrees from Trinity College, University of Oxford and Macalester College. Quam has an honorary degree from Augsburg College,^[21] and was awarded the distinguished alumni degree from Macalester College.

Politics

Quam supports women's reproductive rights.^[22] She is a proponent of a health care public option.^{[23][24][25][26]}

Quam has been active in the Democratic party in Minnesota and nationally throughout her life. She was an elected delegate from the Fourth Congressional District in Minnesota to the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver. She attended her first state Minnesota Democratic convention in 1982 as an alternate delegate from Lyon County.

Personal

Quam grew up in Marshall, Minnesota. She is married to Reuters foreign policy correspondent Arshad Mohammed.^[27] She was formerly married to Matt Entenza, a Minnesota politician.^[28]

References

1. "Family First, Then Task Forces". The New York Times. 29 April 2007. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
2. "50 Most Powerful Women in Business 2006: Lois Quam | FORTUNE". Money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
3. May, Chen (2007-12-11). "From health plans to planet's health". StarTribune.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
4. Greenhouse, Steven (26 March 2008). "Millions of Jobs of a Different Collar". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
5. Fondler, David (12 April 2014). "Health care diplomat Lois Quam's new role seems natural – Twin Cities". Twincities.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
6. Thomas L. Friedman, Hot, Flat and Crowded, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008.
7. "Lois Quam Named Chief Executive Officer - Pathfinder International". Retrieved 13 May 2018.
8. . Archived from the original on 2016-10-18. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
9. Wilkerson, Isabel (1992-02-18). "In Minnesota, Pressure Builds for a Health-Care Insurance Plan". The New York Times. Minnesota. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
10. "Minnesotan heads Obama's effort to improve global health | Minnesota Public Radio News". Mprnews.org. 2011-05-13. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
11. T. Godal and L. Quam. “Accelerating The Global Response To Reduce Maternal Mortality.” The Lancet, June 2, 2012.
12. L. Quam, R. Smith, and D. Yacht. “Rising To The Global Challenge Of The Chronic Disease Epidemic.” The Lancet, October 7, 2006.
13. Hartley, D., Quam, L., and Lurie, N. 1994. Urban and Rural Differences in Health Insurance and Access to Care. Journal of Rural Health 10(2):98–108.
14. "From Data to Policy... to Politics | JAMA Internal Medicine | The JAMA Network". Archinte.jamanetwork.com. 1992-11-01. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
15. Lurie, Nicole; Slater, Jonathan; McGovern, Paul; Ekstrum, Jacqueline; Quam, Lois; Margolis, Karen (1993). "Preventive Care for Women -- Does the Sex of the Physician Matter?". New England Journal of Medicine. The New England Journal of Medicine. 329 (7): 478–482. doi:10.1056/NEJM199308123290707. PMID 8332153.
16. Miles, Steven H.; Lurie, Nicole; Quam, Lois; Caplan, Arthur (1992). "Health Care Reform in Minnesota". New England Journal of Medicine. The New England Journal of Medicine. 327 (15): 1092–1095. doi:10.1056/NEJM199210083271511. PMID 1522847.
17. "Lois Quam Elected to Commonwealth Fund Board of Directors". The Commonwealth Fund. 8 July 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
18. "advisory board goes from strength to strength". The Performance Theatre. 2015-12-18. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
19. Arne Frøkedal (24 October 2005). "Haugesunds Avis - Ho er ei av USAs mektigaste forretningskvinner". H-avis.no. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
20. L. Quam. “Minnesota, Norway And A Clean Energy Future.” Star Tribune, March 18, 2008
21. Lowman, Jen (2014-05-01). "Commencement Speakers & Honorary Degree Recipients - Alumni, Parents, and Friends | Augsburg College". Augsburg.edu. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
22. Kate Stence (2011-09-26). "Honoring World Contraception Day: How to Unleash Power and Change Amidst Population Growth". K4Health.org. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
23. Selix, Casey (29 October 2009). "Health insurers have 'ignited the case' for regulation, Lois Quam says". MinnPost.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
24. "'Public option' gets a boost from ex-UNH exec". StarTribune.com. 2009-10-28. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
25. Lois Quam (2011-05-25). "Public Option Vital to Health Reform". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
26. "Connecting People Through News". Retrieved 2016-10-17 – via PressReader.
27. "Lois Quam and Arshad Mohammed". The New York Times. 7 December 2014. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
28. Kimball, Joe (2014-12-09). "Former UnitedHealth executive Lois Quam remarries in Washington". MinnPost. Lois Quam, a former UnitedHealth executive who had been a major political contributor when she was married to Minnesota DFL politician Matt Entenza, was remarried last weekend in Washington, D.C.