Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Cardinal Health
2016 Acceptance Speech: George S. Barrett, Cardinal Health
The Committee for Economic Development's (CED) 2016 Distinguished Performance Awards Dinner
September 14, 2016
Pierre Hotel - New York, NY
Peter G. Peterson Business Statesmanship Award Recipient:
George S. Barrett
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Cardinal Health, Inc.
Award introduced by:
Larry Merlo
President and CEO
CVS Health
About George Barrett
In May 2020, George Barrett participated in a musical performance for the Offstage LIVE series, playing bass alongside musicians Byron Stripling, Bobby Floyd, and Andy Woodson. During the event, he stated that he had been doing board work and policy work focused on patient safety, and that he was trying to stay involved in healthcare while wishing everyone health and safety. In a 2015 interview with the Financial Times, Barrett discussed the healthcare sector's merger and acquisition activity, describing it as a byproduct of companies repositioning for industry changes. He noted that Cardinal Health had expanded its position in generics and the specialty pharmaceutical area, and acquired Cordis to address changes in the medical device world. Barrett stated that spending 18-20% of GDP on healthcare is "probably an unsustainable model" and that there would be pressures to manage costs more effectively. He expressed the view that the Affordable Care Act was likely to remain in its basic form, saying repeal would be difficult politically and that many Americans were benefiting from reduced uninsured rates. In a 2016 acceptance speech for the Peter G. Peterson Business Statesmanship Award, Barrett said he thought of statesmanship as having two definitions: one related to government operations and the other to thinking about the public good. He remarked that while healthcare undergoes changes, it is important to keep in mind that behind the scenes is a "father, a mother, or brother or sister, a cousin, a friend."
Transcript (17 segments)
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Steve Odland0:04
All right, good evening everyone and welcome to the Committee for Economic Development's Distinguished Performance Awards Dinner. It's very nice to see everybody. I hope you had a great time at the reception and I hope tonight is a great evening together. Tonight we have come together to honor six phenomenal men and women and I have the pleasure of being the MC tonight. I am the CEO of the Committee for Economic Development and the former Chairman and CEO of both AutoZone and Office Depot, so I know how hard these people work and what great leaders these six individuals are. We have George Barrett, the Chairman and CEO of Cardinal Health.
Takeshi Minami, the President and CEO of Suntory Holdings.
Eileen Gordon, the Chairman and CEO of Ingredion.
John Chambers, the Executive Chairman of Cisco Systems.
Maggie Wilderotter, the Chairman and CEO of The Grand Reserve Inn and formerly Frontier Communications.
And finally, Alan Dax, the President and CEO of the Fremont Group.
Okay, so we put a little sound meter on that and the winner is all of them. We will begin this evening with three presentations before dinner. The salads are out in front of you, please feel free to start eating. And so we'll do three awards, we will break, then clear the salads and have the main dish, and then we will complete the other three awards afterwards.
Okay, I want to thank all of our dinner committee and sponsors. There's a little book that you should see on your chair, it's a very thick one, and all of those people in there are sponsors of this dinner and our organization. And I want to thank all of you. Please look through it and buy everything that they're selling in that magazine.
CED, as most of you know, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, business-led policy organization that was founded in 1942 by an elite group of people who came together in the time of war to practice business statesmanship and to help guide the American free enterprise system. They developed the Marshall Plan in Europe, they developed the Bretton Woods agreement, and established a history for us that we continue to observe and advance. Today we are coming up on our 75th anniversary. We are older than virtually most organizations in Washington, D.C. It's amazing. We will be celebrating 2017 with a new book, 'Sustaining Capitalism,' that will be introduced in January. We hope you all read it and it's capitalizing on our legacy and talking about business statesmanship today. Last year, you may know that we joined forces with The Conference Board in a quest to strengthen our outreach and impact, and we're thankful for all of our Conference Board colleagues. And our CED members, can I just ask for all the CED members who are here tonight to please stand and be recognized?
Thank you. These are phenomenal individuals and we appreciate all of your support and your leadership. Now let's turn to our awardees. Our first is George Barrett who will receive the Business Statesmanship Award. And this award is named in honor of Pete Peterson, and we have the Peterson Foundation with us tonight and we thank the Peterson Foundation. Pete Peterson is our longest-serving member and this award is named after Pete. And here to introduce George is... yes, please let's recognize the Peterson Foundation.
To introduce George is Larry Merlo. Larry, if you could make your way to the stage. Larry is the President and CEO of CVS Health, America's largest pharmacy health care provider. Larry actually is a pharmacist by education, I'm sure he has his script book with him in case anybody needs anything. But Larry has served with CVS for over three decades and currently serves on the board of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the University of Pittsburgh's Board of Trustees. Larry, thank you and welcome.
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Larry Merlo5:02
Steve, I would certainly like to commend you and the CED for your great work and in particular your selection of George Barrett to receive this year's Peter G. Peterson Business Statesmanship Award. And by the way, I cannot think of a better representative of that award as George exemplifies everything that this award represents. You know, I've had the privilege of knowing George for many years now through both the world of pharmacy and health care, and that relationship became even stronger about three years ago through the joint venture that was formed by our two companies. And you know, I would describe George through three simple words: purpose, people, and passion. And let me start with purpose because George has devoted his entire business career, more than 30 years, to changing health care for the better. And under his leadership, Cardinal Health provides millions of patients and health care providers with products, medicines, and solutions that save lives and improve health. And although he's a great business leader who pays attention to budgets and balance sheets, George really gets excited about the opportunity to improve patient safety, to support providers in delivering care more effectively, and to help make health care more affordable. It's why he chairs the Quality Committee at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and why he serves on the board of a national network of more than a hundred children's hospitals devoted to patient safety. And it's why he's agreed to be the incoming chair of the Health Care Leadership Council, which is a coalition of chief executives committed to making affordable, high-quality care more accessible for all Americans.
Second, George cares about people and he believes in empowering them to make a difference. And I've heard George say many times, 'Great people make for great companies, and great companies make for great communities.' And his commitment to fostering an inclusive and supportive culture at Cardinal Health can be seen in the numerous recognitions the company has received from organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, the National Association for Female Executives, and the Employer Support Freedom Award, which is the highest private sector recognition from the Department of Defense.
George also enjoys mentoring. As a matter of fact, when I became CEO, George was one of the very first people to sit down with me and share his experiences, his learnings, and everything that was in store for me in the months ahead. And George, I really appreciated that and I still consider you a mentor, you know, in addition to a good friend. George has a strong belief that business leaders should play an active and constructive role in their communities, and he certainly leads this by example. He's actively involved in many organizations in Ohio devoted to opening up new opportunities for people through education and economic development. And personally, I've always known George to treat people with the utmost respect and to display the highest standards of ethics and integrity. And finally, I think this will become evident to you in a moment, George leads and lives with passion. You know, one of his greatest passions is music, and you might say George comes from a musical family as all four of his siblings are professional musicians. And George himself is an accomplished musician and singer. As a matter of fact, little known secret, he recently sat in for a set with the rock band The Who with his bass guitar.
George is a passionate promoter of the arts. He works tirelessly to strengthen the role that arts play in our public life. As someone schooled in music, I very much appreciate this about George, as I'm sure the many arts organizations that he supports also do. George is Vice Chairman of the Kennedy Center Corporate Fund Board. He's also a board member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So I think it's safe to say that not only is George a great leader of the highest integrity, a true business statesman, I think you'll find he's the coolest person in the room tonight. So it's my honor to introduce the winner of the 2016 Peter G. Peterson Business Statesmanship Award, George Barrett.
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George Barrett9:33
To be introduced by Larry Merlo is a treat and it's a real honor. Larry is a spectacularly successful CEO. CVS Health, I think, is number seven on the Fortune 500, and yet he is the most modest guy in the room. And he's a great friend, a great business leader, and in his own right, a great statesman. So it's just an honor to be recognized by Larry. I want to just acknowledge the other people being recognized tonight. I think all of us hope that we have impact in our world. I think there are great opportunities for many of us in business to lead and have impact and to discuss sort of the big issues of our time. And John, Maggie, Alan, Eileen all do that. And so it's just a great honor to be recognized along with you. So the notion of being recognized as an individual is, I think for many of us, we know in some ways silly. We are, and I am, enabled and inspired by the 38,000 people with whom I get to work every day at Cardinal Health, many of whom are here, and I want to thank them for being here. And they do what they do with a clear sense of purpose, in a sense that while health care is going through these extraordinary changes, we keep in our minds throughout this notion that it's all about the patient and that at the end of everything that we do behind the scenes is a father, a mother, a brother, or sister, a cousin, a friend. And I think that being recognized is really being recognized for them and the work that they do and the way they internalize their work. So I am here really as that representative of Cardinal Health.
Finally, just one quick observation about statesmanship. You know, I tend to think of two definitions of the word: one which has to do with the operations of government and the other which has to do with the thinking about the public good. And I just want to share a quick note. I lost both of my parents this past year. My dad was a therapist and a wonderful amateur musician. My mom was a teacher and a poet. As you can imagine, poetry being such an enormous money-making endeavor, they had a huge affinity for business, and I became the black sheep of the family when I departed my musical life and entered the world of business. So they didn't connect all that much to certain things of what I do or the recognitions, but the word statesmanship for them would have really meant something. It would have signaled to them that, like them, I've devoted some time to thinking about the issues of our communities and our world and, in a bigger sense, the impact that we can have as leaders. So they could not be here, but my three children, Zach and Emma and Kate, are here. I'm thrilled that they're here. And I just want to thank you for this recognition. Hope you all have a great night and congratulations to the other honorees.