Michelle Gaskill-Hames

Michelle Gaskill-Hames, BSN, MHA, is president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals of Southern California and Hawaii.

She directs the Southern California health plan and hospital operations and partners with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group leadership to provide care for 4.8 million members through 16 hospitals and 197 medical offices.

Gaskill-Hames is also responsible for the Hawaii health plan and hospital operations, working closely with the local leadership, including the Hawaii Permanente Medical Group, to improve the health of 271,035 members and their communities through the Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center in Honolulu and 21 medical offices and clinic locations on Oahu, Maui, Hawaii, and Kauai.

Gaskill-Hames reports to the executive vice president, group president and chief operating officer, care delivery.

Gaskill-Hames joined Kaiser Permanente in 2016 and for 6 years served in a progression of leadership roles in the Northern California market, including senior vice president and area manager for both Redwood City and Greater Southern Alameda, interim regional chief nurse executive, and senior vice president of health plan and hospital operations. She also served as the Northern California incident commander for Kaiser Permanente’s COVID-19 response.

In February 2022, Gaskill-Hames was named chief operating officer and chief strategy, growth, and experience officer for Southern California and Hawaii. She was appointed interim president for the combined regions in April 2023.

Gaskill-Hames began her career at the bedside as a neonatal intensive care registered nurse. In the 15 years prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, she delivered leadership vision, drove cultural transformation, and executed successful outcomes at several health systems, including Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center, and Advocate Health Care, where she served as president of Advocate Trinity Hospital. She also spent 8 years in strategic planning and operations improvement consulting in the health care practices at both Huron Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Gaskill-Hames serves on several professional and community boards, including the California Hospital Association executive board, the Integrated Healthcare Association executive board, the boards of the national Healthcare Standards Institute and the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco.

She holds a master’s degree in health services administration and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Michigan. She also has a project management certification from the Harvard School of Public Health.