Mark Larson, former Medicaid director for the state of Vermont, is senior vice president of leadership and capacity building at the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS). In this role, he guides CHCS’ programs aimed at ensuring state leaders, and their health sector partners, have the skills, expertise, and tools necessary to achieve Medicaid’s potential. He oversees a portfolio of leadership and organizational development programs, including CHCS’ Medicaid Leadership Institute, which provides leadership training and coaching for Medicaid directors, and the Medicaid Pathways Program, which supports the growth of diverse senior leaders from across the country. He has also worked with several Medicaid programs to assist in strategic planning and organizational development efforts, including the development of executive leadership teams. In addition to oversight of these programs, Mark also offers training in a variety of topics related to Medicaid policy and leadership development for individuals and team, as well as individual leadership coaching.
Mark has a long-standing interest in building cross-functional collaboration between health care, child welfare, public health, criminal justice, and other health and human service sectors and to promoting equity within organizations and service delivery models.
During Mark’s tenure in Vermont, the state developed leading-edge innovations in delivery system and payment reform, and he brings this expertise to his CHCS work. He served as commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access, from 2011 to 2015. In this role, he was responsible for oversight and management of Vermont’s publicly funded health insurance programs serving more than 200,000 Vermonters. He led the development and implementation of Vermont’s health insurance exchange and played an instrumental role in planning for Green Mountain Care, Vermont’s universal health care program.
Previously, Mark was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives, from 2001 to 2011, where he served as the chair of the House Health Care Committee, vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee, and co-chair of the Vermont Commission on Health Care Reform. In addition to his state public service, he worked for nearly 20 years as a program administrator, consultant, and trainer helping states develop effective responses to domestic violence and interventions for domestic violence offenders. In these roles, he has worked extensively with correctional and criminal justice systems, as well as child protection and human service programs. As Vermont’s Medicaid director, he was selected as a fellow in CHCS’ Medicaid Leadership Institute, a unique leadership training program for Medicaid directors.
Mark earned a bachelor’s degree in religion and sociology from Bucknell University. He completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the ACT/Brown University Leadership and Performance Coaching program. He currently serves on the advisory board of the Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health at Boston University.
When not working, Mark can be found enjoying a sunset with his partner at their home on Lake Champlain in Burlington Vermont, pestering from afar his daughter who is college student, mastering his home and garden skills by watching far too many home renovation shows, and clinging to whatever skill he ever had as a basketball player and/or following his beloved Boston Celtics.
