CVS Health Corporation - Women In Retail 2022

THE TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER

I truly believe there has never been a better time to be a woman, and there has never been a better time to make progress together. Let’s all take advantage of this moment to take action

Michelle Peluso built her career transforming firms in industries from banking to travel and now Healthcare. In each of these industries, she has a proven track record in accelerating the digital capabilities.

Pandemic has made the online customer experience (CX) more crucial for retail chains. Michelle’s strong marketing and business pedigree will help create a seamless experience for customers across CVS Health’s combined company, from getting treatment to filling prescriptions to insurance coverage.

Michelle Peluso is Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer, CVS Health and Co-President, CVS Pharmacy, responsible for leading the front store Retail business, transforming CVS Health’s consumer experience across all touchpoints, accelerating the company’s digital transformation and advancing the company’s brand and marketing.

Michelle has an extensive 25-year career building world-class consumer experiences. She most recently served as Senior Vice President, Digital Sales and Chief Marketing Officer for IBM where she oversaw all global marketing and brand experiences, digital sales and the commercial business. Prior to IBM, Michelle was CEO of Gilt from 2013 until its sale to Hudson’s Bay Company in 2016. In her role at Gilt, she oversaw the expansion of the business and its drive to profitability.

Michelle served as Chief Consumer Marketing and Internet Officer for Citigroup, leading the bank’s award-winning digital transformation. She also served from 2002 to 2009 as CEO of Travelocity, pioneering online travel and driving significant scale worldwide. She joined Travelocity following its acquisition of Site59, a travel site she created and launched in 1999.

Michelle earned a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Pembroke College at Oxford University. She is a member of the Board of Directors at Nike, Inc., and the nonprofit organization, TechnoServe. Additionally, she served as a White House Fellow and Senior Advisor to Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman.

Michelle has been named a 2020 Woman of Power and Influence by the National Organization for Women, one of the World’s Most Influential CMOs by Forbes and one of the world’s Most Creative People by Fast Company.

Talking about the next generation of women business leaders, in one of her own article Michelle expresses optimism, “I truly believe there has never been a better time to be a woman, and there has never been a better time to make progress together. We stand on the shoulders of giants who came before us – those who paved the way because they knew real inclusion would make the world stronger… The women who fought for girls to go to school, vote, choose their careers, and determine their future, paved the way for all of us…It’s on all of us to create the world we want. Let’s all take advantage of this moment to take action, create more diverse & inclusive teams, and as we do, we will pay it forward for the women who will come after us.” In another interview she mentions, “There are so many extraordinary women leading the way now, but we must all grasp the unique opportunity to shape our world. We must all ask ourselves: What are we women going to do with this opportunity?”

“Good leaders value and care about the people around them,” says Michelle. She inherited this spirit from her father, who was way ahead of his time in founding an environmental-engineering firm in the 1970s. “I literally grew up watching him build it. Even as a little kid, I was struck by Dad’s obsessive interest in and care for the people who worked for him. Nights when our family’s dinner-table conversation didn’t include discussion of his employees were rare,” notes Michelles in an article published in Harvard Business Review. Watching her father, Michelle had learnt a profound lesson: If you treat your employees as unique individuals, they’ll be loyal to you and they’ll perform—and your business will perform, too. “The longer I’m in my own career, the more I attempt to put that lesson into practice,” she says. “I don’t have all the answers on how to lead people, and I learn from colleagues every day. But I share Dad’s entrepreneurial belief: People aren’t your “greatest asset”—they’re your only asset.”