Karen S. Lynch
Karen S. Lynch | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Former Chief Executive Officer of CVS Health | |
| In office February 1, 2022 – October 18, 2024[1] | |
| Preceded by | Larry J. Merlo |
| Succeeded by | David Joyner |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 30, 1963 Ware, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Spouse |
Kevin Lynch (m. 2015) |
| Education | Boston College (BS) Boston University (MBA) |
Karen S. Lynch (née Rohan, born December 30, 1963) is an American businesswoman and the former president and chief executive officer of CVS Health. Lynch serves on the board of directors of AHIP and previously 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.[2] She currently serves as a member of the President's Export Council, The Business Council, the Business Roundtable, and other organizations.[3][4]
Early life and education
[edit]Lynch was born on December 30, 1963, in Ware, Massachusetts.[5] She attended Ware Junior/Senior High School and graduated in 1980.[6] 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.[7] Upon graduating, she started her financial career in the Boston office of Ernst & Young, where she specialized in insurance.[8][7]
Career
[edit]Lynch credits her chosen career path in health care to her family life experiences.[8] 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".[7] In 2004, Lynch was appointed president of Cigna Dental.[9] The following year, she was named to a newly created position that combines leadership of Cigna Group Insurance and Cigna Dental.[10] She left Cigna in 2009 to become president of Magellan Health Services.[11][12]
Lynch stayed with Magellan until 2012, when she joined Aetna as executive vice president and head of Specialty Products.[13] Three months after joining Aetna, Lynch led the integration of Coventry Health Care, which was the largest health care acquisition at the time.[14] 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.[15][16]
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.
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.[17]
In 2023, CVS made another hugely expensive deal, purchasing Oak Street Health, owner of over 200 centers in 25 states providing care for the elderly, this time laying out $10.5 billion, 30% or $2 billion more than the target’s cap prior to clinching the purchase. CVS made still another big bet by acquiring Signify, a health care analytics provider, for $8 billion. The Oak Street and Signify buys signaled that CVS was making desperate moves, adding big pieces to bolster the complex construct that Lynch conceived, but that wasn’t performing.[18]
During her short tenure at CVS, Lynch kept changing her group of lieutenants at an alarming rate. It isn’t clear if she kept choosing the wrong people for the wrong roles, or was unable to get the talent she recruited to do their best work. From the spring of 2023 through this month, no fewer than eight C-suite stalwarts, all of whom she’d hired after officially taking charge in February of 2021, departed. The exodus encompassed the head of Aetna, who left after less than a year; the CFO (whose statement cited health reasons); the chiefs of HR, communications, health care delivery, and the retail stores. Two other long-standing CVS execs exited as well: the general counsel and chief marketing officer.[19]
CVS shares are down 10 percent since Lynch became CEO in February 2021 as she struggled to create a one-stop shop for medical services amid a government crackdown on spending, increasing health expenses in the insurance unit, and ratcheted up post-pandemic pressure on retail stores. Pharmacies have been shuttering locations and dealing with labor shortages, driving up patient wait times and frustrating customers.[20]
In 2023, Lynch's total compensation from CVS Health was $21.6 million, representing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 392-to-1.[21]
On October 18th, 2024, the CVS Health board replaced Lynch as President and CEO of CVS Health, with CVS Caremark executive David Joyner as her replacement.[22][23] It said the decision to oust Lynch was made unanimously by the board.
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.[24] She was awarded the 2021 Committee for Economic Development Distinguished Leadership Award, which recognizes business leaders for their contributions.[25][26] She was also ranked number one on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business list.[2] Additionally, Lynch is a board member of U.S. Bancorp,[27] AHIP,[28] The Business Council,[29] Boston College Women’s Council,[11] The Business Roundtable,[30] and is an advisory board member of IBM Watson Health.[11] Lynch is also a trustee of the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts.[27] She was ranked 1st in the Fortune's list of Most Powerful Women for three consecutive years (2021, 2022 and 2023).[31][32][33]
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.[34]
Lynch served as honorary co-chair of the Komen Connecticut Race for the Cure benefiting breast cancer research.[35][14] In 2022, she was listed on the Fortune's “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.[36] Lynch was later named to Time's Time 100 annual list of the hundred most influential people in the world in 2023.[37] Forbes ranked Lynch as the sixth most powerful woman in the world in 2023[38] up from eight position in 2022.[39]
In 2024, the business magazine CEO Today named Lynch its "Healthcare CEO of the Year," recognizing her leadership of CVS.[40] She delivered the commencement address at Bryant University in May 2024.[41]
Personal life
[edit]Lynch was raised by a single mother.[42] Her mother died by suicide when Lynch was 12 years old.[8] 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.[43][44] In Lynch’s early 20s, she lost her aunt to breast cancer, lung cancer, and emphysema.[11]
Lynch married Kevin M. Lynch, the founder, president, and CEO of the Quell Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to remove the stigma around mental health and reduce the number of suicides, overdoses, and incarceration involving those with mental illness, in 2015.[11][45] The two first met in the early 1980s while enrolled in college, and later reconnected in the early 2000s.[46]
In a 2020 interview, Lynch said, “Outside of work, I make time for physical fitness, and running is one of my favorite pastimes. Running helps me to unwind and clear my mind—many times, my greatest ideas come from an exhilarating run.”[47]
References
[edit]- ^ "CVS to replace CEO Karen Lynch with long-time exec David Joyner". Yahoo Finance. 18 October 2024.
- ^ a b "CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch is the most powerful woman in American business". Fortune. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ "President's Export Council Members". International Trade Administration. 2024. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
- ^ Gninyomo, Luc (2023-02-01). "Meet Karen S. Lynch, a Powerful American Business Woman". Sheen Magazine. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
- ^ "LYNCH Karen S. - biography, news, photos, date of birth, press dossier. Personalities GlobalNY.biz". globalny.biz. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ "Karen Lynch, native of Ware, makes list of Fortune's 'Most Powerful Women'". masslive. 2016-09-13. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ a b c "Deep-Rooted passion for healthcare drives Aetna's Lynch". distilnfo.com. October 6, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Cigna Dental Has New President". Hartford Courant. April 16, 2004. Retrieved November 10, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Cigna Fills A New Position". Hartford Courant. November 17, 2005. Retrieved November 10, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "AVON, CT: ROHAN TAKES OVER AS PRESIDENT OF MAGELLAN HEALTH SERVICES". Health Leaders. August 10, 2009. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
- ^ "Karen S. Rohan to Head Aetna's Specialty Products Organization". businesswire.com. June 7, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
- ^ a b "LEADERS Interview with Karen S. Lynch, President, Aetna". www.leadersmag.com. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ "Diversity fuels Karen Lynch's leadership at Aetna". www.furstgroup.com. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ "CVS Health chooses Aetna executives to stay post-merger". Modern Healthcare. 2018-06-06. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ "Biggest CEO successes and setbacks: 2023's triumphs and 2024's challenges". Fortune. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
- ^ Tully, Shawn. "Why Karen Lynch lost the CEO job at CVS". Fortune. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
- ^ Tully, Shawn. "Why Karen Lynch lost the CEO job at CVS". Fortune. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
- ^ "CVS Ousts CEO Karen Lynch". The Business of Fashion. 2024-10-18. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
- ^ Anderson, Mae; Harloff, Paul; Ortutay, Barbara (2024-06-03). "CEOs made nearly 200 times what their workers got paid last year". AP News. Archived from the original on 2024-09-03. Retrieved 2024-09-04.
- ^ Pramuk, Jacob (18 October 2024). "CVS replaces CEO Karen Lynch with exec David Joyner as profits, share price suffer". CNBC.
- ^ Japsen, Bruce. "CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch Replaced By Caremark PBM Exec David Joyner". Forbes.
- ^ "50 Over 50 2021". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ "CED Honors Six US Business Leaders and their Companies for Distinguished Leadership". 21 October 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ "CED Announces Recipients of Its 2021 Distinguished Leadership Awards". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ a b "Karen S. Lynch". WSJ Health Forum. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ "CVS Health President and CEO Karen Lynch Elected to AHIP Board of Directors". AHIP. 2021-06-10. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ "Karen S. Lynch » Member List". The Business Council. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ "Karen S. Lynch". Business Roundtable. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
- ^ "Most Powerful Women". Fortune.
- ^ "Most Powerful Women". Fortune.
- ^ "Most Powerful Women". Fortune.
- ^ "Karen Lynch: Blazing a trail for the Health insurance sector". insurtechdigital.com. 2023-03-06. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
- ^ 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) - ^ "Karen Lynch". Fortune. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "The World's Most Powerful Women 2023". Forbes.
- ^ Forbes, Moira; McGrath, Maggie; Jones, Nicolette; Burho, Erika. "The World's Most Powerful Women 2022". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2023-11-28. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
- ^ "CEO Today Global Awards 2024". CEO Today Global Awards 2024. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
- ^ "CVS CEO to Deliver Bryant Commencement Address | Bryant News". news.bryant.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
- ^ McGinn '93, Daniel. "CEO Karen Lynch '84 Wants CVS to Be Your One-Stop Shop for Medical Care". Boston College. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Woldt, Jeffrey (2021-03-17). "Lynch brings passion for health care to new role". CDR – Chain Drug Review. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- ^ "How One Of Healthcare's Most Powerful Women Turned Personal Tragedy Into Her Driving Passion". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
- ^ Jourdey, Tom (June 3, 2021). "Gift to strengthen program on mindfulness, empathy and compassion in education". Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved May 21, 2023.
- ^ "CEO Karen Lynch '84 Wants CVS to Be Your One-Stop Shop for Medical Care".
- ^ 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.