Mary, did you know?

In 2002, George Halvorson hurried out of Minnesota, leaving behind his former employer, HealthPartners, in a sorry state. Mary Brainerd was named chief executive officer, and set about cleaning up after Mr. Halvorson, starting with an investigation into Halvorson’s conduct:

“[Mary Brainerd had] to defend the company and salvage employee morale during an investigation by then-Attorney General Mike Hatch, who was scrutinizing board-approved perks to her previous boss, [George] Halvorson. Brainerd described it as a huge challenge, but [one board member] said it was one of her best moments as the leader of HealthPartners.”

Which brings me to a new series I’ll be writing: “Who Will Be Kaiser Permanente’s Next CEO?”

Let’s look at Mary Brainerd. Sure, it would be a bit unusual for Kaiser Permanente to pluck a new chief executive from the same source twice. And, sure, given the luck they’ve had with George Halvorson, the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Board of Directors might be hesitant to shake the HealthPartners tree again.

But, by all accounts, Mary Brainerd had nothing to do with the shenanigans that led to Mike Hatch’s investigation of George Halvorson. And, by all accounts, she cleaned up after George Halvorson’s mess, and HealthPartners is better for it today. The Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal even says that, after Halvorson’s departure, Mary Brainerd made lemonade out of lemons and “created a culture where…HealthPartners is [now] an employer of choice.”

If Mary Brainerd was able to turn HealthPartners around after George Halvorson bailed, maybe she could do the same at Kaiser Permanente? Hell, maybe Kaiser Permanente could just borrow her to clean up the mess, at which point she could return to HealthPartners? Now there’s an idea…

Stay tuned, though. In the next few days, I’ll share candidate number two.