Karen S. Lynch

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Karen S. Lynch
Chief Executive Officer of CVS Health
Assumed office
February 1, 2021
Preceded byLarry J. Merlo
Personal details
Born (1963-12-30) December 30, 1963 (age 60)
Ware, Massachusetts, U.S.
Spouse
Kevin Lynch
​
(m. 2015)​
EducationBoston College (BS)
Boston University (MBA)

Karen S. Lynch (née Rohan, born December 30, 1963) is an American businesswoman and the president and chief executive officer of CVS Health. Lynch serves on the board of directors of AHIP, CVS Health, and U.S. Bancorp. In 2015, she became the first female president of Aetna. She has held executive positions at Magellan Health Services and Cigna. In 2021, she became the highest-ranking female chief executive on the Fortune 500 list.[1] She currently serves as a member of the President's Export Council.[2]

Early life and education[edit]

Lynch was born on December 30, 1963, in Ware, Massachusetts.[3] She attended Ware Junior/Senior High School and graduated in 1980.[4] Lynch attended Carroll School of Management at Boston College, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and has a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certification.[5] Upon graduating, she started her financial career in the Boston office of Ernst & Young, where she specialized in insurance.[6][5]

Career[edit]

Lynch credits her chosen career path in health care to her family life experiences.[6] She spent nearly a decade in insurance before returning to graduate school to pursue her MBA, saying, "I wanted to broaden my financial background to have more exposure to the business aspects of running a company".[5] In 2004, Lynch was appointed president of Cigna Dental.[7] The following year, she was named to a newly-created position that combines leadership of Cigna Group Insurance and Cigna Dental.[8] She left Cigna in 2009 to become president of Magellan Health Services.[9][10]

Lynch stayed with Magellan until 2012, when she joined Aetna as executive vice president and head of Specialty Products.[11] Three months after joining Aetna, Lynch led the integration of Coventry Health Care, which was the largest health care acquisition at the time.[12] In 2015, Lynch became Aetna's first female president, a role she retained through the $70 billion acquisition of Aetna by CVS Health in 2018.[13][14]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lynch took the helm as president and chief executive officer of CVS Health on February 1, 2021, following the retirement of Larry Merlo. The appointment made her the highest-ranking female CEO on the Fortune 500 list and the 40th female chief executive on the Fortune 500 list.[15][16] Under Lynch's leadership, CVS Health administered the COVID-19 vaccine in more than 40,000 long-term care facilities and in CVS Pharmacy locations in 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.[17]

At CVS Health, Lynch was credited with overhauling their drug pricing business model to decrease costs borne by consumers. Under Lynch, CVS announced CVS CostVantage, a straightforward, cost-plus model that based the cost of prescription drugs on the amount paid by CVS plus a small markup. Fortune called her work one of the biggest CEO successes of 2023, saying the new system was "a sea change" for the industry.[18]

In her first three years as CEO of CVS, the stock has risen from $72.08 to $74.43, a 3.2% growth in share price. Comparatively, the S&P 500 has risen 29.6% in that same timeframe.[19][20]

Awards and honors[edit]

Lynch was selected for the inaugural 2021 Forbes 50 Over 50, a list of female entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists, and creators who are over the age of 50.[16] She was awarded the 2021 Committee for Economic Development Distinguished Leadership Award, which recognizes business leaders for their contributions.[21][22] She was also ranked number one on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business list.[1] Additionally, Lynch is a board member of U.S. Bancorp,[23] AHIP,[24] The Business Council,[25] Boston College Women’s Council,[9] The Business Roundtable,[26] and is an advisory board member of IBM Watson Health.[9] Lynch is also a trustee of the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts.[23]

Lynch was awarded an honorary Doctor of Commercial Science from the University of Hartford in 2022 and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Becker College in 2015.[27]

She served as honorary co-chair of the Komen Connecticut Race for the Cure benefiting breast cancer research.[28][12] In 2022, she was listed on the Fortune's “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.[29] Lynch was later named to Time's Time 100 annual list of the hundred most influential people in the world in 2023.[30]

Personal life[edit]

Lynch was raised by a single mother. Her mother died by suicide when Lynch was 12 years old.[6] Following her mother’s death, Lynch and her three siblings were raised by their aunt, who was a single mother with a son of her own.[31][32] In Lynch’s early 20s, she lost her aunt to breast cancer, lung cancer, and emphysema.[9]

Lynch married Kevin M. Lynch, the founder, president and CEO of the Quell Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to remove the stigma around mental health, reduce the number of suicides, overdoses, and the incarceration of those with mental illness, in 2015.[9][33] The two first met in the early 80s while enrolled in college and later reconnected in the early 2000s.[34]

In an interview given by Lynch in 2020 she said “Outside of work, I make time for physical fitness, and running is one of my favorite past times. Running helps me to unwind and clear my mind—many times my greatest ideas come from an exhilarating run.”[35]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch is the most powerful woman in American business". Fortune. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  2. ^ "President's Export Council Members". International Trade Administration. 2024. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  3. ^ "LYNCH Karen S. - biography, news, photos, date of birth, press dossier. Personalities GlobalNY.biz". globalny.biz. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  4. ^ "Karen Lynch, native of Ware, makes list of Fortune's 'Most Powerful Women'". masslive. 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  5. ^ a b c "Deep-Rooted passion for healthcare drives Aetna's Lynch". distilnfo.com. October 6, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Brodwin, Erin; Court, Emma; Ramsey Pflanzer, Lydia (April 15, 2019). "INTRODUCING: The 10 people transforming healthcare". Businesser Insider. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  7. ^ "Cigna Dental Has New President". Hartford Courant. April 16, 2004. Retrieved November 10, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Cigna Fills A New Position". Hartford Courant. November 17, 2005. Retrieved November 10, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b c d e Gosselin, Kenneth R.; Singer, Stephen (November 6, 2020). "Aetna executive Karen S. Lynch will become CEO of CVS Health". Hartford Courant.
  10. ^ "AVON, CT: ROHAN TAKES OVER AS PRESIDENT OF MAGELLAN HEALTH SERVICES". Health Leaders. August 10, 2009. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  11. ^ "Karen S. Rohan to Head Aetna's Specialty Products Organization". businesswire.com. June 7, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  12. ^ a b "LEADERS Interview with Karen S. Lynch, President, Aetna". www.leadersmag.com. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  13. ^ "Diversity fuels Karen Lynch's leadership at Aetna". www.furstgroup.com. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  14. ^ "CVS Health chooses Aetna executives to stay post-merger". Modern Healthcare. 2018-06-06. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  15. ^ Valinsky, Jordan (6 November 2020). "CVS names female CEO, expanding the ranks of women leading Fortune 500 companies". CNN. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  16. ^ a b "50 Over 50 2021". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  17. ^ "JPM21: CVS making 'good progress' in administering COVID-19 vaccines in nursing homes, Lynch says". Fierce Healthcare. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  18. ^ "Biggest CEO successes and setbacks: 2023's triumphs and 2024's challenges". Fortune. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  19. ^ "CVS Health Corporation (CVS)".
  20. ^ "SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)".
  21. ^ "CED Honors Six US Business Leaders and their Companies for Distinguished Leadership". 21 October 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  22. ^ "CED Announces Recipients of Its 2021 Distinguished Leadership Awards". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  23. ^ a b "Karen S. Lynch". WSJ Health Forum. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  24. ^ "CVS Health President and CEO Karen Lynch Elected to AHIP Board of Directors". AHIP. 2021-06-10. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  25. ^ "Karen S. Lynch » Member List". The Business Council. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  26. ^ "Karen S. Lynch". Business Roundtable. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  27. ^ "Karen Lynch: Blazing a trail for the Health insurance sector". insurtechdigital.com. 2023-03-06. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
  28. ^ Singer, Kenneth R. Gosselin, Stephen (6 November 2020). "Aetna executive Karen S. Lynch will become CEO of CVS Health". courant.com. Retrieved 2021-11-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ "Karen Lynch". Fortune. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  30. ^ Lee, Abigail (April 13, 2023). "Mass. natives Jennifer Coolidge and Karen Lynch make Time's 100 most influential people list - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  31. ^ Woldt, Jeffrey (2021-03-17). "Lynch brings passion for health care to new role". CDR – Chain Drug Review. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  32. ^ "How One Of Healthcare's Most Powerful Women Turned Personal Tragedy Into Her Driving Passion". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
  33. ^ Jourdey, Tom (June 3, 2021). "Gift to strengthen program on mindfulness, empathy and compassion in education". Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved May 21, 2023.
  34. ^ "CEO Karen Lynch '84 Wants CVS to Be Your One-Stop Shop for Medical Care".
  35. ^ Republican, Jim Russell | Special to The (2020-11-12). "Karen Lynch, raised in Ware, tapped to lead CVS Health Corp". masslive. Retrieved 2023-07-04.

External links[edit]

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