Senior Advisor, Milken Institute; Former Secretary, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services

Kody Kinsley served as North Carolina’s 18th Secretary of Health and Human Services under Governor Roy Cooper, unanimously confirmed by the North Carolina Senate. Throughout his tenure, he focused on improving health, strengthening rural access to care, and making care more affordable and accessible for families. He played a pivotal role in expanding Medicaid through bipartisan collaboration with the General Assembly, resulting in 600,000 North Carolinians gaining coverage in the first year—twice the expected pace. Kinsley also secured major policy reforms and one of the largest behavioral health investments in state history—$835 million—to expand access to mental health and substance use services. He implemented North Carolina’s groundbreaking Health Opportunities Pilots — the nation’s first large-scale experiment testing the impact of paying for non-medical health needs, like food and housing.  His career includes roles at the White House, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he was appointed by President Barack Obama and continued under President Donald Trump as Assistant Secretary for Management. Secretary Kinsley currently serves as a Senior Policy Advisor at Johns Hopkins University, Senior Advisor with the Milken Institute, an Aspen Institute Fellow and member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, and serves on numerous boards.