John Yamamoto served the past 11 years as Vice President, Community Health and Government Relations, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Health Plan, Southern California, where he was responsible for overseeing government and community relations in the Southern California Region, promoting policies aligned with Kaiser Permanente’s mission, model, and operations and addressing community health needs to enhance health and equity in the region.

Concurrently through 2018, Yamamoto also served as Regional Counsel to the executive team coordinating all legal services including serving as primary counsel supporting the development of the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine. John joined Kaiser Permanente as Staff Counsel in 1992 and in 1997 became Practice Leader for the Health & Regulatory Practice Group of the National Legal Department, managing a team of lawyers and paralegals across multiple jurisdictions to support health plan and care delivery operations handling high-profile regulatory and litigation matters, internal investigations, new product developments, and crisis management issues.

Yamamoto currently serves on the Board of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and was elected to Kaiser Permanente’s Maui Health System Board of Directors, which operates hospitals on Maui and Lanai. For ten years, Yamamoto served on the Advisory Committee Charles R. Drew University (CDU) School of Medicine and Science Board of Trustees, a private nonprofit, Historically Black Graduate Institution, designated Minority Serving Institution located in South Angeles.

Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, John was a health care lawyer with the national law firm McDermott, Will & Emery. John received his law degree from the University of Michigan and his Bachelor of Science in public policy and management from Carnegie-Mellon University.