Lois Quam, a health care executive dedicated to improving access and affordability, has held top-level leadership roles in state government, the U.S. government, large national health care systems, and global non-profit organizations. She serves as a strategic facilitator for the Minnesota Attorney General to address matters of importance to the academic and community health systems. Ms Quam chaired the Minnesota Health Care Commission, which led to the enactment of a new health insurance coverage program, MinnesotaCare, that resulted in Minnesota having the lowest number of uninsured persons when enacted. For her roles in business, she was named three times to the list of FORTUNE's most powerful women in business. Ms. Quam served as the executive director of the Global Health Initiative at the U.S. State Department under appointment from President Barack Obama.
A Norwegian American, Ms. Quam has served as an advisor to Norwegian organizations, including the Bellona Fund's work on investment strategies for climate mitigation. Ms. Quam has served in leadership roles as an executive at The Nature Conservancy and as a board member at the National Wildlife Fund.
Ms. Quam serves on the Board of Directors for the Commonwealth Fund and the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. A native of rural Minnesota, Ms. Quam attended Macalester College and the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. She and her husband, retired Reuters correspondent Arshad Mohammed, live in St. Paul, Minnesota.