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Leader of Consequence: CEO Takes Medco to the Top
July 13, 2011
David Snow
When David Snow attended Duke, Fuqua was less than 10 years old and was just planting the seeds for what would become the world-renowned business school it is today. In the 33 years since he graduated with a Master of Health Administration degree in 1978, Snow’s success no doubt reflects Fuqua’s reputation for producing elite business leaders.
Snow has been the CEO of Medco Health Solutions since 2003. Under his leadership, Medco has become recognized as a leader in clinically driven pharmacy care, and is the largest pharmacy benefit manager in the U.S. Snow’s success was noted in 2010, when he was ranked 27th on the Harvard Business Review’s list of Best Performing CEOs in the world.
Snow traces the roots of his success back to his Duke education.
“One of the things I remember most was the systems approach to health care that was taught at Duke,” he says. “I think about health care and reform from an end-to-end systems point of view. It’s been very helpful to me when trying to solve complex problems and frame solutions with my management team. The approach at Duke was unique and opened up a world of opportunities that make you qualified as a senior officer to lead a company.”
And Snow has put his education to use in transforming Medco. The company is vastly different now than when Snow took over nearly eight years ago.
“When I came to Medco, there was a cloud over its head,” Snow explains. “My goal was to help it become the world-class company in our industry—be the No. 1 leader in organic growth and by far the leader in innovation. Flash forward eight years, we’ve grown it from a $30 billion company to $66 billion. We went from 12,000 to 24,000 employees.”
Snow is also proud of the accolades that Medco has received in recent years. This year, for the fourth consecutive year, Medco captured the No. 1 position in the Health Care: Pharmacy and Other Services sector in Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies list. Also, in Fortune’s 2008 Most Admired survey of U.S. companies, Medco was ranked No. 1 in people management, No. 2 in long-term investment, and No. 3 nationwide in innovation. In 2009, Medco ranked in the top 10 among large-cap companies in Forbes’ listing of The 100 Most Trustworthy Companies in America.
Snow says the key to his leadership success at Medco is having a vision, and the conviction to see it come to light.
“It’s a gift to rally people behind what I call the ‘noble cause,’” he says. “You have to indentify and articulate the noble cause, and then you attract the best people when you identify a cause they can get behind. That’s a trait that some leaders don’t have, but it’s very important.”
Also important to Snow is returning to Duke. Not only is the university one of Medco’s largest clients, but each year Snow is asked to lecture about health care business and reform for one of his former Duke professors William “Terry” Kane, MD, at the School of Medicine. Snow cites Kane among those who shaped his leadership style.
Outside of running Medco, Snow devotes his time to his wife Lynette and their twin 18-year-old daughters, Lauren and Ashley, who are accomplished synchronized figure skaters. They have been a part of the U.S. national team for three years, which has taken the family all over the world. Lauren and Ashley won the U.S. national championship in January, a gold medal at an event in Milan in February, and they finished fifth at the Junior World Challenge Cup in Switzerland in March.
With his daughters at the top of their game, Snow says he passes on his wisdom in order to help them continue their success.
“When you get to No. 1, plenty of people want to knock you off,” Snow says. “You can never become complacent. You need to continue to improve yourself to stay No. 1.”
With Medco currently capturing less than 25 percent of the market, Snow says there’s plenty of room to grow and he plans to help the company continue its upward climb.
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