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 Industry Specialists — Oaktree Transportation Infrastructure Fund based in Brentwood, California, and is a partner of 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 career included roles of increasing responsibility from 1981 to 1998 with Continental Airlines and New York Air.

During his aviation career, Barger was a board member at Airlines for America and the International Air Transportation Association, and chaired the NextGen Advisory Committee in Washington D.C. Barger is also committed to the community and serves on the board of Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation, a non-profit public foundation focused on healthy kids, youth development, and nature-focused wellness. He is also currently a board member for Aernnova Aerospace SA, LoneStar Airport Holdings and CarTrawler.

Supporting his alma mater, the University of Michigan, Barger is a member of the Literature, Science, and the Arts Dean’s Advisory Council and the Organizational Studies Advisory Committee, and has endowed the Barger Leadership Institute. The vision of the institute is to help provide leadership access opportunities outside the classroom to undergraduates in various settings in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, in domestic as well as international locations.