Gov. John Hickenlooper nominated Kaiser Foundation Health Plan executive Donna Lynne Wednesday to replace Joe Garcia as Colorado’s lieutenant governor and to fill the newly created position of “chief operating officer” for the state.

“Donna Lynne is uniquely qualified to take on this role,” said Hickenlooper. “Her background in successfully running large complex organizations — in both the private and public sector — and her wisdom and experience in operations, will enhance the lieutenant governor’s role to make even more of an impact on programs across the state.”

Lynne, 62, hasn’t held elected office before, but spent two decades serving in various government positions in New York City before beginning a career of similar duration as a health care executive. She is currently executive vice president of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and is group president responsible for Kaiser’s Colorado, Pacific Northwest and Hawaii regions, overseeing an $8 billion budget and 16,000 employees.

She served under one Republican and three Democratic mayors of New York, including as deputy commissioner of the Office of Labor Relations, director of the Mayor’s Office of Operations and senior vice president of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

“I figured out politics pretty early,” she said after Hickenlooper introduced her to lawmakers, staff and reporters at the state Capitol as a blizzard raged outside.

After the governor sends the nomination to the General Assembly, Lynne must be confirmed by a majority vote in both the House and Senate before taking over for Garcia, who announced in November he would be stepping down to take a job as president of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, a Boulder-based advocacy organization.

The Pueblo Democrat, who also serves as executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, has twice won election as Hickenlooper’s lieutenant governor. His last day in office will be April 29, the governor’s office said.

Hickenlooper had recently hinted that he would nominate someone with a business rather than a political background. Democrats, in particular, urged the governor not to anoint a successor or give one of several potential future gubernatorial candidates a leg up on the 2018 election, when Hickenlooper will be term-limited.

Asked by reporters if she wanted to run for her new boss’s office, Lynne replied, “No.”

But Hickenlooper added, “I think Donna Lynne has the background to be governor from day one.”

Lynne was a member of Hickenlooper’s 2010 gubernatorial transition team and worked on the open-ended advisory board, dubbed TBD Colorado, that the governor initiated during his first term. She’s a former chair of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Praise for Hickenlooper’s selection poured in throughout the day.

“As a longtime community leader and activist, she certainty would bring valuable experience and perspective to the job, if confirmed,” said Senate President Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs. “And at a time when healthcare is such a significant focus of public concern, for government, business and individuals, hopefully she’ll be just what the doctor ordered.”

“At first blush, I’d say Donna Lynne is a fine choice for lieutenant governor,” said House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder. “I’m especially pleased that she brings extensive experience in the public sector as well as the private sector. I look forward to reviewing her nomination and see no reason why she wouldn’t be speedily confirmed.”

“This will bring a new area of expertise to the administration, which is good, especially because Republicans keep bashing health care and expanded Medicaid in the state,” said state Sen. Irene Aguilar, D-Denver, a physician and a top health care policy lawmaker.

Aguilar is also an organizer of the Amendment 69 ballot initiative to establish universal, single-payer health care in Colorado, a plan opposed by nearly all Republicans and many Democrats, including Hickenlooper.

“If Amendment 69 passes, it’s funny, I think Kaiser could still exist,” Aguilar said. “Other (insurers), maybe not, but Kaiser has a pretty good model of coordinated care. It’s relatively efficient and effective.”

She added that she was a little surprised that Hickenlooper would trade a Latino from Pueblo for a white business executive from Denver. “I heard it was going to be a person from the business community,” she said. “Hey, but at least it’s a woman!”

Senate President Pro Tem Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, who sat on a hospital board for seven years before coming to the Legislature, told The Statesman she has worked with Lynne on health policy issues in the past.

“She has a deep background on one of the Legislature’s thornier issues, so I think that’s very good,” Roberts said. “I just learned about the governor’s choice, though, so I haven’t had time to think about it in a political sense. I can say that people who are very good in business sometimes find the mechanics of the Capitol difficult.”

Roberts said she wondered how big a role the governor expected Lynne to play in policy, pointing to jobs Garcia has done steering and implementing higher education policy. “She might bring valuable background to the table — if she’s going to be at the table,” Roberts said, adding, “She’s intelligent and has worked on policy in the past, so we’ll just have to see.”

Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, who chairs the House Health, Insurance and Environment Committee, said she knows Lynne personally and by reputation, calling her a “talented, multifaceted person. I think she has climbed all of the 14ers in the state — I think all of them.” (The governor’s office confirmed that Lynne has indeed climbed all of Colorado’s highest mountains.)

“I guess I was expecting someone with expertise in higher education, just to continue that dual role that Joe (Garcia) has been filling as lieutenant governor,” McCann said. “But Lynne has a different focus, and I think her expertise in health care could be very useful right now. It’s a very complicated and timely topic, and I’m sure her experience will be useful to the governor.”

McCann added that Lynne “might be in for a shock” working at the Capitol, where she won’t be running her own operation, like at Kaiser. “She seems like she’d be good at working with people, though, and to get anything done here you have to work with lots of different kinds of people with very different ideas.”

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock called the choice “a bold pick” and noted that Lynne has served as co-chair of the Denver Education Compact since Hancock established the organization soon after being elected mayor.

“Donna has spent her career as a steadfast champion for children, families and healthy communities, and I know she will keep doing so on behalf of all Coloradans in this new role,” Hancock said.

Calling Lynne “one of our state’s most prominent, energetic and effective business leaders,” former Senate Minority Leader Mike Kopp, executive director of Colorado Concern, praised the governor’s nomination.

“All of us at Colorado Concern are pleased to congratulate Donna Lynne on her appointment as our next lieutenant governor,” Kopp said. “Gov. Hickenlooper couldn’t have made a better choice. She has been a leader and innovator not only in the health care arena but as an advocate for policies that have helped make Colorado’s economic climate more vibrant.” (Lynne is a member of Colorado Concern, a selective group of business executives devoted to boosting the state’s business climate.)

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said in a statement that Lynne’s “impressive background in both the public and private sector make her uniquely qualified to tackle this challenging role.” The Democrat, who got his start in Colorado politics as Hickenlooper’s chief of staff when the governor was mayor of Denver, added, “We have every confidence that Donna will fulfill her duties with passion, integrity, and distinction in the tradition of Joe Garcia, who demonstrated that the lieutenant governor can be a forceful voice for Colorado families and go beyond the statutory responsibilities of the office.”

Lynne serves on the boards of Colorado Education Initiative, Colorado Mountain Club, Colorado Regional Health Information Organization, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver Public Schools Foundation, Teach for America-Colorado, U.S. Bank Colorado Advisory Board and is the former chair of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

She has a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from the University of New Hampshire, a master’s degree in public administration from George Washington University and a doctorate in public health from Columbia University. She received an honorary doctorate of public service from the University of Denver in 2004 and has been an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at Columbia University.

Lynne is married to Jim Brown and they have five children.

— ernest@coloradostatesman.com

John Tomasic and the Associated Press contributed to this story