The board of America’s Health Insurance Plans elected Ms. Tavenner at a meeting here on Wednesday, according to Mark B. Ganz, the board chairman, who is also the chief executive of Cambia Health Solutions, based in Portland, Ore.

“This is a great opportunity,” Ms. Tavenner, 64, said in an interview. “AHIP has a longstanding reputation as focused on consumers and consumer advocacy, and being a leader in the transformation of health care.”…

She said that, because of federal conflict-of-interest rules, she would not lobby the agency or other parts of the Department of Health and Human Services in the remaining months of the Obama administration. But she said she was free to lobby Congress.

Ms. Tavenner led federal efforts to carry out the Affordable Care Act, and she was stunned in October 2013 when HealthCare.gov crashed during its initial introduction, frustrating millions of consumers who were trying to buy insurance online.