Heather Cianfrocco

In August, Cianfrocco became president of Optum, the fast-growing, highly profitable $183 billion health services arm of UnitedHealth Group, America’s largest health insurer and the 10th-largest company in the world. The lawyer turned insurance executive previously helmed Optum’s $100 billion pharmacy services business. She continues to oversee that division as well as the unit’s sprawling network of health care providers—which includes America’s largest physician group. The Optum playbook that Cianfrocco has helped execute is now being adopted across the industry; UnitedHealth’s competitors, including the MPW-helmed CVS Health and Elevance, are scrambling to catch up with the industry leader, buying up medical practices as part of their own pushes into providing health care.