Mike Leavitt

As the founder and Chairman of Leavitt Partners, Michael Leavitt advises clients in the health care and food safety sectors. In 1993, Mr. Leavitt was elected governor of Utah and went on to serve three terms. In 2003, he joined the Cabinet of President George W. Bush, serving in two positions: first as leader of the Environmental Protection Agency and then as secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). At HHS, Mr. Leavitt led the implementation of the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program. The task required the design, systematization and implementation of a plan to provide 43 million seniors with a new prescription drug benefit. By the end of the first year, enrollments exceeded projections, prices were lower than projected and seniors expressed high levels of satisfaction.

A pattern of innovation runs throughout Mr. Leavitt’s career. When he was elected governor, Utah’s major freeway system was dangerously inadequate. He championed a design-build system, creating cost and quality incentives between the state and its contractors. The project finished in half the projected time and under budget. As governor, he organized a group of his colleagues to form Western Governors University, where degrees are earned on competency rather than credit hours. WGU now has more than 20,000 students and enrollment is growing at 35 percent a year. TIME magazine named WGU “the best relatively cheap university you’ve never heard of.”