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. She was named three times to FORTUNE’s list of the most influential women leaders in business, She has also served as a top leader at a major nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the environment.

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. 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.” 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.” Quam worked in renewable energy investing and advised Norwegian environmental concerns.

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. The Commission’s recommendations resulted in legislation that created Minnesota Care bringing health insurance to tens of thousands of Minnesotans. 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. 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.

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