George Barrett

George Barrett is a nationally recognized healthcare industry leader, with a distinguished career as an executive in global corporations. As the founder of The Overtone Group, he advises companies and nonprofit organizations, mentors senior executives, teaches our next generation of leaders, advises on public policy, and is a frequent speaker on leadership and healthcare.

Barrett is a director on multiple boards, including Target Corporation, National Resilience, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He serves on a National Academy of Medicine initiative on climate change and human health, is vice chair of the board of trustees of The Conference Board, and a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development. He serves on the governing committee of The Columbus Foundation, one of the largest community foundations in the United States. A recording artist and songwriter, he is a trustee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

He is a visiting professor of practice and senior fellow at New York University’s Stern School of Business and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. He serves as a Governor on Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs and on the board of Brown’s Corporation Committee on Medical and Health Affairs.

Barrett retired from Cardinal Health, a Fortune 20 multi-national healthcare services and products company, in November 2018, where he served as chairman and CEO for nearly a decade. Under his tenure, Cardinal Health was recognized as one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies, Forbes America’s Best Employers, and received numerous awards for its public health, corporate social responsibility, and philanthropic initiatives. Barrett was personally recognized multiple times by Institutional Investor as a Top CEO on the All-America Executive Team and as a Top CEO in the annual Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards.

Prior to Cardinal Health, Barrett held senior positions, including president, at multiple global pharmaceutical companies. He previously served on the boards of the Fourth District of the Federal Reserve Bank and Eaton Corporation, and as a member of President Obama’s White House Business Council. He was chair of the boards of the Healthcare Leadership Council and the Association for Accessible Medicines (formerly GPIA). He served on the executive committee of Columbus Partnership, a non-profit organization of CEOs focused on the economic vitality of the region, as co-chair, with the mayor, of the Columbus Education Commission to make recommendations for improving the public school system, and on the board of the Children’s Hospitals’ Solutions for Patient Safety.

Barrett graduated from Brown University with a dual concentration in history and music and earned an M.B.A. from New York University. He is a trustee emeritus of Brown, a member of the Brown Athletic Hall of Fame, and the recipient of multiple honorary doctorates. Barrett is the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and Peter G. Peterson Business Statesmanship Award, among others, for a life dedicated to community service and the public good.