Good morning.
If you have any doubt about the dominant role health plays in the U.S. economy, consider this: four of the top 10 Fortune 500 companies are now healthcare companies: CVS (#4), United Health (#5), McKesson (#9) and AmerisourceBergen (#10). And four others have made massive investments in the field—Walmart (#1), Amazon (#2), Apple (#3) and Alphabet (#8). Oh, yeah, and Berkshire Hathaway (#7) has one of its largest investments in DaVita, which is the leader in kidney dialysis. You may think the iPhone is Apple’s pièce de résistance, but CEO Tim Cook insists health will be his company’s “greatest contribution to mankind.” It seems every company is a now a health care company.
Meanwhile, the very definition of health care keeps expanding. That’s what makes Fortune Brainstorm Health such a fascinating gathering each year. This year’s event—being held in Marina del Rey, Calif., April 25 and 26—proves the point.
The conversation will include the giants of the field—like CVS CEO Karen Lynch and Elevance CEO Gail Boudreaux—as well innovators in mental health—like Wile CEO Gwendolyn Floyd—innovators in wellness—like Headspace Health CEO Russell Glass—and innovators in diet—like Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown and Noom co-founder Saeju Jeong. Also on hand will be pathbreaking investors including Annie Lamont of Oak HC/FT, top policy makers including U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and former White House advisor Deborah Birx, and leading philanthropists including Chelsea Clinton of the Clinton Foundation. Javier Rodriguez, CEO of Berkshire-backed DaVita, will also be there. You can find a full list of speakers here.
It’s always been our view that if you get a diverse group of thinkers like this in one place for two days, interesting things happen. The conference is by invitation only, but we still have room for a few CEO Daily subscribers. If you are interested, apply here, or shoot me a note. And I’ll be covering the action in this newsletter.
And for a treat today, listen to the interview Ellen McGirt and I did with Kickstarter CEO Everette Taylor on Leadership Next. Kickstarter helped launch Peloton and Allbirds, as well as many other creative products. If you are wondering what it takes to be a success on Kickstarter, Taylor gave us the secret: a good idea, a good audience, and a lot of hustle. “If you don’t have that hustler spirit,” he says, “Kickstarter might not be the right place for you.”
Listen to the podcast on Apple or Spotify. Other news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
