Executive Biographies | Georgia

Kerry W. Kohnen

President, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia

Kerry W. Kohnen is president of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia. He is responsible for the operations of the state’s largest nonprofit health plan. Along with its care delivery partner, The Southeast Permanente Medical Group, the organization provides comprehensive health care services to more than 240,000 members in metropolitan Atlanta through its 29 medical office buildings.

Kohnen was named president in May 2011. His leadership reflects more than 38 years of professional commitment to Kaiser Permanente. In 1975, he started his career after high school as a cafeteria worker at Kaiser Permanente’s Panorama City Hospital in Southern California. He worked full-time while obtaining his bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s degree in business administration from California State University at Northridge. He is a graduate of the Kaiser Permanente Executive Program at Stanford University.

Throughout his career, Kohnen has served in positions of increasing responsibility for both Kaiser Foundation Health Plans and the Permanente Medical Groups in four regions across the nation. From 2006 to 2010, he was vice president of Business Operations and Strategy for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado. He also worked at the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Kansas City, the Permanente Medical Group of Mid-America and the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. He joined the Georgia Region in 2010, serving as senior vice president of Operations before assuming his current position.

As part of Kaiser Permanente’s mission to promote healthy communities, Kohnen serves on the boards of the Woodruff Arts Center, the Grady Health Foundation, the Georgia Association of Health Plans, the YMCA of Metro Atlanta and the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership. He is on the board of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, where he serves as chair of the Bioscience Leadership Council. He also serves on the Board of Councilors of the Carter Center, the Board of Governors for the 11Alive Community Service Awards and was chairman of the American Heart Association’s 2013 Atlanta Heart Ball.

He is the father of three adult children: Will, and twins, Eric and Elizabeth.

5/15/2013