Chief Health Officers

2ND YEAR ON THE LIST

In late 2020, Tyson Foods appointed Dr. Claudia Coplein as its first-ever chief medical officer.

KEY INSIGHT

Once limited to pharmaceutical companies, hospitals systems, and insurance providers, chief health officers and chief medical officers are getting recruited to all sorts of companies that need the role to guide decisions during the global health crisis. Job descriptions are expanding beyond pandemic protocols and remote work policies to include other aspects of employee wellness, such as mental health.

EXAMPLES

Delta Air Lines and Royal Caribbean Cruises quickly created CHO and CMO roles during the pandemic, followed by less obvious companies that needed the position. Constellation Brands, a beer and wine maker, and Tyson Foods added in-house medical expertise in late 2020. Salesforce built on its 2018 hiring of Ashwini Zenooz as the company’s first chief medical officer long before the pandemic to release its Vaccine Cloud, which lets customers manage and schedule COVID vaccines, in early 2021. Last July, Midwestern supermarket chain Hy-Vee hired Dr. Daniel Fick to be its first chief medical officer, and retailer Dollar General named Dr. Albert Wu as its first CMO when it rolled out prescription drug and telehealth services.

DISRUPTIVE IMPACT

Beyond the pandemic, CHOs look holistically at employee and customer wellness. Healthy and safe people are more productive—and as consumers, they potentially spend more on products and services. Colleges and universities are also starting to add CHOs to executive cabinets to develop policies and strategies that promote health and wellness for students, faculty, and staff. In June 2021, Indiana University appointed its first chief health officer, joining a number of other schools, including the University of Michigan and Bowling Green State University.

EMERGING PLAYERS

• Hy-Vee • Indiana University • Dollar General • Constellation Brands • Tyson Foods • Woolworths