Kirk Adams
Executive Director, Healthcare Education Project
Kirk Adams is the Executive Director of the Healthcare Education Project (HEP), a health care advocacy organization jointly funded by 1199 UHE and League of Voluntary Hospitals. At HEP, Adams has developed a state and national based capacity to speak on behalf of providers, health care workers and consumers in promoting affordable, high quality health care for all. A long-time organizer and political activist, Adams began organizing low-wage workers in Boston, Detroit and New Orleans in the 1980s and spent years helping health care workers earn a voice on the job in Beverly nursing homes in Texas, and hospitals in the South, the Northwest and California.
Adams was tapped by President Andy Stern to serve as Chief of Staff for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in 2000 and in 2007 became Division Director of SEIU Healthcare, playing a critical role in the passage of health care reform. Adams once again served as Chief of Staff when Mary Kay Henry was elected International President in 2010 before resuming his previous position as Division Director of SEIU Healthcare later that year. In September 2011, Adams was elected to serve as SEIU’s International Executive Vice President for Healthcare. His work in health care was recognized by Modern Healthcare who named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare in 2015. He continues to work closely with SEIU on national health care issues.