David J. Barger

David Barger joined the Boards of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in May 2017. He is a member of the Governance, Accountability and Nominating Committee and the Finance Committee.

Barger is co-chair of Industry Specialists — Oaktree Transportation Infrastructure Fund based in Brentwood, California, and is a partner at Connor Capital Transportation Opportunities, a transportation investment fund based in Santa Barbara, California. He retired as chief executive officer of JetBlue Airways early in 2015, where he also served as president and chief operating officer from the founding of the company in 1998. His airline career included roles at Continental Airlines and New York Air.

Barger serves on the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation board, a nonprofit public foundation focused on children’s health, character development, and nature-focused wellness. He also joined the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum board in 2023.

He is also on the board for Aernnova Aerospace SA, based in Victoria, Spain, and CarTrawler, based in Dublin, Ireland.

Supporting his alma mater, the University of Michigan, Barger serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Literature, Science, and Arts, and endowed the Barger Leadership Institute. The vision of the institute is to provide leadership access opportunities outside the classroom to undergraduates in various settings in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, in both domestic and international locations.