Founder Profile
Kent Thiry
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Kent Thiry?
Kent Thiry is a founder of DaVita Inc., which was founded in 1979 with Total Renal Care.
- Company founded
- DaVita Inc.
- Founded
- 1979
- Co-founders
- Total Renal Care
Background
Kent Thiry holds a degree from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He worked at Bain & Company and later led Vivra, a dialysis company, before joining Total Renal Care.
Founding Story
Kent Thiry became CEO of Total Renal Care in October 1999, when it was in financial crisis. He led the turnaround, the 2000 rebrand to DaVita, and the 'Village' culture, in which employees are 'teammates' and he was known as 'Mayor'. Under Thiry, DaVita completed the Gambro Healthcare acquisition in 2005 and the HealthCare Partners acquisition in 2012. He handed the CEO role to Javier Rodriguez in 2019 and served as executive chairman until 2020. Kent Thiry was born in 1956.
Sources
This profile does not yet cite a source specific to Kent Thiry. The sources below document the company company rather than the person, so check them against the claims above.
- DaVita 2025 Form 10-K (DaVita Inc.)
- DaVita Inc. 4th Quarter 2025 Results (DaVita Inc.)