The Who is Who – Karen S. Lynch

Karen S. Lynch is president and chief executive officer of CVS Health®, the leading health solutions company and ranked fourth largest on the Fortune 500. Karen leads more than 300,000 colleagues who are passionate about delivering a superior health care experience for consumers by improving health outcomes, broadening access to care and lowering costs.

Under Karen’s leadership, CVS Health touches the lives of more than 100 million people through its health care benefits and pharmacy benefits management businesses, and presence in over 9,000 community health destinations across the United States. As part of the company’s commitment to sustainability, Karen has set bold goals to advance health equity and ensure a healthier planet for the people and communities CVS Health serves.

Karen has over three decades of experience in the health care industry. Prior to becoming chief executive officer in February 2021, Karen was executive vice president of CVS Health and president of Aetna®, where she was responsible for delivering consumer-centric, holistic health care to the millions of people Aetna serves.

Before joining CVS Health, Karen held executive positions at Cigna® and Magellan Health Services, where she served as president. She began her career with Ernst & Young as a certified public accountant.

Karen has been named to Fortune’s list of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” the past six years, including the top ranking in 2021 and 2022. In 2022, Fortune named Karen the Most Inspirational CEO. She was included on the Bloomberg 50 list of people who have changed global business and Forbes’ inaugural “50 Over 50” list. She has received many other awards and recognition for her achievements in health and business.

Karen is a member of the Business Roundtable, the World Economic Forum Global Coalition for Value in Healthcare Executive Board and the Boston College Women’s Council. Previously, she served on the board of U.S. Bancorp and as a trustee of The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford.

A graduate of Boston College and The Questrom School of Business at Boston University, Karen 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.