Founder & Principal, Lion Creek Partners; former CEO, Cambia Health Solutions
Health Evolution Leadership Committee

Until his recent retirement, Mark Ganz was, for nearly 18 years, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cambia Health Solutions, a total health solutions company dedicated to transforming health care by creating a person-focused and economically sustainable system for individuals and their families. He served at Cambia and it’s predecessors for 29 years holding the position of Chief Legal Officer, Corporate Secretary, Ethics and Compliance Officer, and head of Federal Public Policy, and then President of its largest subsidiary, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon. The 104 year old company more than tripled in value on his watch, and it brought to market a number of innovative, person-focused offerings which today serve millions of Americans in the Pacific Northwest and throughout the country.

As a recognition of Cambia’s leadership in innovation, Ganz was recognized by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of its “100 Most Influential in Health Care” in 2018 and 2019. He and Cambia’s board also were profiled in 2017 by The Harvard Business Review regarding their uniquely effective board governance approach in “The Board’s New Innovation Imperative”.

Under his leadership, Cambia was recognized with a number of accolades, including being named as one of only 125 of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” by The Ethisphere Institute (2018-2021); recognition in 2018 by Forbes as a “Best Employer for Women”; a top “Military Friendly Employer” by Viqtory Media; “Top 1,000 Companies Worldwide for Millennial Women” by Mogul; and a consistent perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation for positive corporate policies and practices related to LGBT workplace equality. Cambia has also been named consistently as one of the top ten “Most Admired” Oregon companies across all industries and in the health care sector over several years. Ganz was also named most admired health care CEO in 2014

Through his life and career, Ganz has received several honors. In 2007, he received the Golden Eagle Award from Boys and Girls Club of Portland; In 2013 he became the youngest recipient of The Oregon Governors’ Gold Award (awarded by the then-living current and former Governors of the state) for his lifetime contributions to the state of Oregon in the areas of health care, economic development, and leadership through community service. Along with singer/actor Bing Crosby (posthumously) and author Timothy Egan, Mark and his two brothers were inducted into his high school’s (Gonzaga Prep) Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2015, he received the prestigious Distinguished Eagle Scout Award for exemplifying, through distinguished service and leadership to his company, community and nation, the values and ideals of the Eagle Scout rank he achieved as a youth. In 2016, he received a Global Business Award from Special Olympics of Oregon. In 2019, Ganz received the inaugural “Health Transformer of the Year” award in Oregon and then had the honor of bestowing that award on U.S. Senator Ron Wyden in 2020. In 2020 he received the Sojourns Award for his work and advocacy in promoting palliative care on an equal footing with curative care for people suffering from acute or chronic illness or injury.

Ganz currently serves on the boards of Portland General Electric Company, a publicly traded NYSE company which is the region’s primary electric producer and servicing organization; The University of Portland, which for many years he served as Vice-Chair; Boy Scouts of America-Cascade Pacific Council, which he has chaired for the past 5 years; The Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC), and the Tournament Golf Foundation which oversees the LPGA’s longest-running regular tour event, The Cambia Portland Classic. He is also a member of the Health Care Executives Study Society, The Health Evolution Summit Leadership Circle, and the Aspen Group on Health an interdisciplinary group of senior leaders in health care policy and innovation.

Until recently, he served on the following boards: Prime Therapeutics, Inc., a national Pharmacy Benefit Management Company; Echo Health Ventures; Oregon Business Council; Greater Portland Inc. (the regional economic development corporation for which he was the founding Chair); Jesuit High School (Portland); The Conversation Project, a subsidiary of the Institute for Health Care Improvement; The University of Southern California Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics Advisory Board. As the former chair and longtime board member for America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), and board member of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Ganz was a consistent advocate for transformation of health care in America to a system more person-focused and economically sustainable for the individuals and families it serves.

Ganz earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. While an undergraduate, he was a staff member for U.S. Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson (D-Wash). He has been married to his wife Leslie for nearly 34 years and they have two adult children. They also have a wonderful German Shepherd dog, a Siberian Cat, and several chickens, all of whom mostly tolerate one another.