Karen M. Ignagni

Karen Ignagni (b. 1954, Providence, RI) is the President and Chief Executive Officer of EmblemHealth as of 9/1/2015, until which time she was the President and Chief Executive Officer of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), formerly HIAA (Health Insurance Association of America). She is often mentioned as one of the most effective lobbyists and the most powerful people in healthcare. She is involved in health care reform in the United States, working to benefit health insurance companies.

Ignagni grew up in Providence, where her father was a fireman and mother worked at the city hall, her brother Robert currently resides in South Windsor, CT. She graduated from the Providence College, where she majored in political science, and from Loyola College Executive MBA program.

Ignagni led the American Association of Health Plans (AAHP) from 1993 until 2003 when it merged with the Health Insurance Association of America. Before joining AAHP, she was a director of the AFL-CIO's Department of Employee Benefits. Previously she worked in the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and as a staffer for Senator Claiborne Pell.