George Barrett is a healthcare industry leader, educator, and speaker on leadership, with a distinguished career as a business executive of global corporations. He served as chairman and CEO of Cardinal Health, a multinational healthcare services and products company, from 2009-2017, when he became executive chairman of the board until November 2018. He was recognized multiple times as a Top CEO on Glass Door and the All-American Executive Team, Institutional Investor’s annual ranking of U.S. corporate leaders. Prior to Cardinal Health, Barrett was president and CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical’s North American business and corporate executive vice president for global pharmaceuticals.

Barrett sits on the boards of major companies and organizations, including: Target Corporation; Resilience, a first-of-its kind biopharmaceutical manufacturing and technology company; Olive, a healthcare-focused artificial intelligence company; and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He serves on the Advisory Board of InStride, a public benefit corporation that provides workforce education, on the National Academy of Medicine’s President’s Advisory Council for Healthy Longevity, and is Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Conference Board. A lifelong musician and performer, he is a trustee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Barrett was a member of President Obama's White House Business Council, a network of CEOs that engaged with the president and his senior economic team on various policy issues, and a director of the Fourth District of the Federal Reserve Bank. He is a Trustee Emeritus of Brown University, and currently serves on the board of Brown’s Watson Institute and Brown University’s Committee of the Warren Alpert Medical School.

Barrett is a Visiting Professor of Practice and Senior Fellow at New York University’s Stern School of Business, Adjunct Assistant Faculty at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, and a frequent lecturer at other leading universities. Barrett earned his bachelor’s degree from Brown University with a dual concentration in history and music, and an MBA from New York University. He holds multiple honorary doctorates and is the recipient of numerous honors for a life dedicated to statesmanship and community service.