Dan Liljenquist

Daniel Redford Liljenquist is an American healthcare executive leader, and former legislator in the Utah State Senate.

Dan Liljenquist
Member of the Utah Senate from the 23rd district
In office 2009–2011
Preceded by	Dan Eastman
Succeeded by	Todd Weiler
Personal details
Born	Daniel Redford Liljenquist (1974-07-10) July 10, 1974 (age 51) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Spouse	Brooke Davies
Children	6
Education	Brigham Young University (BA) University of Chicago (JD)
Occupation	Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Intermountain Health

Early life and education

Daniel Liljenquist was born in Nashville, Tennessee to Dr. John E. Liljenquist and Colleen Redford Liljenquist, while his father taught at Vanderbilt University. His family moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho when he was five.^[1]

Following graduation from Skyline High School, Liljenquist attended Brigham Young University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1998. He then studied at the University of Chicago Law School, earning a Juris Doctor in 2001.^[2]

Career

Upon graduation from the University of Chicago Law School, Liljenquist joined Bain & Company^[3] as a consultant in 2001. He worked at the firm's Dallas office until 2003.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Liljenquist joined FOCUS Services as its president and chief operating officer. In 2011, he sold his interests in the company before founding Liljenquist Strategies in 2012. The strategy consulting company focused on public sector pensions and benefits reform. In 2012, he also began to write a weekly column for the Deseret News.^[4]

Intermountain Health

Liljenquist joined Intermountain Healthcare as director of special projects in 2012 as a part of the Shared Accountability organization and focused on population health.^{[citation needed]} In 2017, Liljenquist became the vice president of the organization's Enterprise Initiative Office.^{[citation needed]} He has since become Intermountain's chief strategy officer.^[5] He currently oversees Strategy, Corporate Development, Government Relations, Consumer Experience, Strategic Partnerships, and Digital Technology Services.^{[citation needed]}

Civica Rx, CivicaScript, and Graphite Health

In addition to Intermountain Healthcare, Liljenquist worked on multiple healthcare initiatives aimed at improving access, affordability, and transparency.^[6] He also led the creation of CivicaScript, a sister organization focused on retail generics.^[7]

Liljenquist currently serves as the chairman of the board for Civica Rx and CivicaScript.^[8] He is also a board member for the Civica Foundation, Equable Institute,^[9] and CenterPoint Legacy Theatre.^[10] Previously, he also served as a board member with the Lucy Burns Institute and the board chair of Graphite Health.^{[citation needed]}

Political career

Utah State Senate

In November 2008, Liljenquist was elected to the Utah State Senate, receiving 70% of the vote in the 23rd district.^[11]

During his time in office, he served on the Appropriations, Standing, and Interim Committees.^[12] He sponsored SB 126, which prioritized performance over seniority in public employee rehiring decisions. He also led pension reform through SB 63, transitioning Utah to a defined contribution retirement system for new hires, which was capped at ten percent.^[13]

Liljenquist was criticized by Freedom Path and others concerning his voting record in 2011, when he missed 24% of the votes in the state Senate^[14]

Prompted by a 22% loss in the pension fund's value during the 2008 financial crisis – which created a 30% funding gap – Liljenquist led reforms that applied to employees hired after July 1, 2011. He also sponsored SB 43, which ended "double-dipping" and eliminated pensions for state lawmakers.^[15]

In 2011, he sponsored Utah's Medicaid reform bill, SB 180, which passed unanimously.^[16] It capped Medicaid funding growth to the growth rate of the general fund while transitioning from fee-for-service to managed care and made Utah the first state to cap Medicaid growth on a per-member basis. The reforms were projected to save $2.5 billion over seven years.^[17]

Liljenquist resigned from the Utah State Senate in December 2011.^[18]

2012 U.S. Senate campaign

Shortly after his resignation from the state senate, Liljenquist announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in January 2012. He challenged long-time incumbent Orrin Hatch and was among ten Republican candidates. At the state convention, he secured 40.81% of the delegate vote^[19] and forced Hatch into his first primary election since 1976.^[20] Hatch went on to win both the primary runoff and the general election.^[21]

Awards and recognition

In 2021 and 2022, Modern Healthcare named Liljenquist as one of the "100 Most Influential People in Healthcare"^[22][23] Additionally, the industry news organization also recognized Dan as one of its Top 25 Innovators^[24] and as one of "The Collaborative: 45 Healthcare Leaders Who Exemplify Collaboration Created in Service to the Patient" in 2021.^[25]

He was named "Public Official of the Year" by Governing Magazine in 2011.^[26] Also in 2011, FreedomWorks named him as its National Legislative Entrepreneur of the Year^[27] and State Budget Solutions recognized him as the "National Legislator of the Year". The Utah Technology Council awarded him a similar honor in 2010.^[28] The Utah Taxpayers Association honored him as the "Taxpayer Advocate of the Year" for two consecutive years in 2010 and 2011.^[29]

On June 22, 2025, the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) awarded Liljenquist with its Richard L. Clarke Board of Directors Award.^[30]

Personal life

Liljenquist and his wife, Brooke, are the parents of six children. They reside in Utah.^[31]

In June 2008, Liljenquist was injured in the 2008 Aéreo Ruta Maya crash. He had been traveling in Guatemala with CHOICE Humanitarian when the plane crashed in a field due to an engine failure. Eleven of the fourteen people aboard the aircraft died. Liljenquist survived, though his right leg and left ankle were broken in multiple places.^[32]