Kent Thiry

Kent Thiry
Basic facts
Organization:	DaVita Inc.
Role:	Former executive chairman of the board and chief executive officer
Location:	Denver, Colorado
Education:	MBA, Harvard University, 1983 • B.A., Stanford University, 1978

Kent Thiry is a businessman, political activist, and philanthropist. He is the former executive chairman of DaVita Inc.'s board of directors and the former chairman and chief executive officer of DaVita, a company specializing in kidney dialysis services. In 2018, Thiry founded Colorado Thrives, a nonprofit organization focused on economic mobility.

HIGHLIGHTS

Kent Thiry, former CEO of DaVita Dialysis, has financially contributed to ballot measure campaigns in Colorado and California. In 2020, Thiry donated $2.4 million to the campaign supporting approval of Amendment B on the 2020 ballot.

As of November 2023, Thiry had donated $6.7 million to state and local candidates and ballot measure committees in Colorado.

Thiry was the co-chairman of Fair Districts Colorado in 2018. The group supported for Colorado's Amendments Y and Z, which instituted redistricting commissions for Congressional and state legislative districts in the state.

In 2016, Thiry founded Let Colorado Vote, which supported Colorado's Propositions 107 and 108 on the 2016 ballot.

Career

Thiry earned his B.A. in political science from Stanford University in 1978. He then earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1983.

Thiry worked at Bain & Company as a partner from 1987 to 1991. He then joined Vivra Specialty Partners, a healthcare service company, as president in 1991. He worked as the chief executive officer of Vivra from 1992 to 1999. Thiry left Vivra to work as executive chairman and chief executive officer of DaVita Inc., a healthcare company specializing in kidney disease. Thiry remained in this dual position from 1999 to June 2019. He was the executive chairman of the board of directors for DaVita from June 2019 until May 2020.

Political activity

Ballot measure activity

Overview of ballot measure support and opposition

The following table details Thiry's ballot measure stances available on Ballotpedia:

Thiry's ballot measure stances
Ballot measure	Year	Position	Status
Colorado Amendment B, Gallagher Amendment Repeal and Property Tax Assessment Rates Measure	2020	Supported	a Approved
Colorado Amendment Y, Independent Commission for Congressional Redistricting Amendment	2018	Supported	a Approved
Colorado Amendment Z, Independent Commission for State Legislative Redistricting Amendment	2018	Supported	a Approved
California Proposition 8, Limits on Dialysis Clinics' Revenue and Required Refunds Initiative	2018	Opposed	d Defeated
Colorado Presidential Primary Election, Proposition 107	2016	Supported	aApproved
Colorado Unaffiliated Elector, Proposition 108	2016	Supported	a Approved

Colorado Amendment B (2020)

See also: Colorado Amendment B, Gallagher Amendment Repeal and Property Tax Assessment Rates Measure (2020)

Thiry donated $2.4 million to the campaign supporting approval of Amendment B on the 2020 ballot. Amendment B, which was approved, repealed the Gallagher Amendment, which set residential and non-residential property tax assessment rates in the state constitution; and allowed the Colorado State Legislature to freeze property tax assessment rates at the current rates (7.15% for residential property and 29% for non-residential property).

Colorado Amendment Y and Z (2018)

See also: Colorado Amendment Y, Independent Commission for Congressional Redistricting Amendment (2018) and Colorado Amendment Z, Independent Commission for State Legislative Redistricting Amendment (2018)

In 2018, Thiry was the co-chairman of Fair Districts Colorado. The organization supported Colorado Amendment Y and Colorado Amendment Z. Voters approved both amendments, which each created a 12-member redistricting commission responsible for, respectively, approving Colorado's Congressional (Amendment Y) and state legislative (Amendment Z) district lines. Amendment Z also established qualifying criteria for members of the commissions and restrictions on prior or current elected officials, candidates, or lobbyists being members. Additionally, it enacted requirements for the district maps.

The amendments came to be through a compromise between Fair Districts Colorado and the group People Not Politicians, who were each proposing their own redistricting measures. Fair Districts Colorado originally backed initiative proposals #48 and #50. People Not Politicians originally backed measures #95 and #96. Thiry said he helped broker the compromise. He said, "It was embarrassingly simple. I worked hard to get them in the same room. Quite frankly, the two groups started to build some trust and both sides wanted to create a better system."

Two issue committees, Fair Maps Colorado and Yes on Y and Z, were registered to support both of the amendments. Thiry donated $1,000,000 to Fair Maps Colorado. Thiry said, "This is about fairness, it’s about our future, it’s about holding our elected officials accountable, and it’s about proportional representation, the sacred principle of democracy."

During an interview in May 2018, Thiry criticized the redistricting process in Colorado, saying, "We essentially ask our elected officials to pick their own voters. As a result, they tend to pick boundaries that work for them. It means that out of our 65 House seats, 90 percent are locked and loaded for one party or the other. This in a state where there are an equal number of D’s and R’s, and there are more Independents than either D’s or R’s. And so the notion that there are only 10 percent that are truly competitive, that actually give voters a choice, is clearly a man-made abomination."

Speaking about the process to get legislators from both parties to consider the redistricting plan for voter-approval, Thiry said, "Over 12 weeks and 100s of hours of negotiating, brainstorming and building consensus, we did it."

Proposition 107 and 108 (2016)

See also: Colorado Unaffiliated Elector, Proposition 108 (2016) and Colorado Presidential Primary Election, Proposition 107 (2016)

In 2016, Thiry founded Let Colorado Vote, "a nonpartisan organization created to increase voter access, engagement and participation in Colorado elections," according to the organization's Facebook page.

Thiry and Let Colorado Vote supported Colorado's Propositions 107 and 108. Both measures passed. Proposition 107 reinstituted Colorado's presidential primaries and allowed unaffiliated voters to vote in them. Proposition 108 allowed unaffiliated electors to vote in the primary election of a major political party without declaring an affiliation with that political party. It also permitted a political party, in some circumstances, to select candidates by committee or convention, rather than through a primary election.

Thiry donated a combined $2,353,000 to Propositions 107 and 108.

Thiry wrote, "Opening primaries to unaffiliated voters will introduce voters into our primary elections less interested in scoring political points and more interested in lawmakers finding common-sense, bipartisan solutions to the problems facing average Coloradans."

California Proposition 8 (2018)

See also: California Proposition 8, Limits on Dialysis Clinics' Revenue and Required Refunds Initiative (2018)

Proposition 8 would have required dialysis clinics to issue refunds to patients or patients' payers for revenue above 115% of the costs of direct patient care and healthcare improvements. The measure was defeated by a vote of 40% in favor to 60% opposed. Thiry said, "Proposition 8 puts California patients at risk in an effort to force unionization of employees. There is an established and accepted process for employees to vote a union up or down. Instead of following that process, SEIU-UHW is pursuing a dangerous initiative that puts patients at grave risk."

Philanthropy

AdvanceEDU

Thiry founded AdvanceEDU, a Denver-based hybrid college, in 2020. As of August 2020, Advance EDU described itself as "an innovative, new kind of college experience designed to propel students toward a career in a high-growth industry."

Energize Colorado Gap Fund

In 2020, Thiry joined the Energize Colorado Gap Fund as chairman. The organization "provides loans for small businesses, using private funds and a $20 million in federal money earmarked for the program by the legislature with support from Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade," according to its website.

Colorado Restaurant Response

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Thiry became a founding member of Colorado Restaurant Response. The group "raised $1.2 million and served nearly 170,000 meals to families in need through the end of May [2020], with the help of six Colorado restaurants," according to Colorado Politics.

The Nature Conservancy

Thiry became a global board member of The Nature Conservancy in 2019. His term was set to end in 2028. As of August 2020, the group's website said it was "taking on the planet’s biggest, most important challenges by focusing on priorities that science shows are the most urgent and where our innovation and expertise can be game changers."

Colorado Thrives

In 2018, Thiry founded Colorado Thrives, which "exists to advance Colorado as an inspiring and inclusive community known globally for innovation, collaboration, and overall well-being," according to its website. As of 2020, Colorado Thrives was led by a group of 13 Colorado CEO's, including Thiry.

Thiry-O'Leary Foundation

In 2012, Thiry founded the Thiry-O'Leary Foundation with his wife, Denise O’Leary. Their foundation focuses on economic mobility, the environment, education, and government and leadership, according to the Denver Business Journal.

See also

• Colorado Unaffiliated Elector, Proposition 108 (2016)
• Colorado Presidential Primary Election, Proposition 107 (2016)
• Colorado Amendment Y, Independent Commission for Congressional Redistricting Amendment (2018)
• Colorado Amendment Z, Independent Commission for State Legislative Redistricting Amendment (2018)
• Colorado Amendment B, Gallagher Amendment Repeal and Property Tax Assessment Rates Measure (2020)
• California Proposition 8, Limits on Dialysis Clinics' Revenue and Required Refunds Initiative (2018)

External links

• Kent Thiry on Twitter
• Colorado Thrives
• Energize Colorado Gap Fund