PillPack, the largest e-commerce pharmacy in the United States, announced today that Jim Messina, President and CEO of The Messina Group and former Deputy Chief of Staff and 2012 Campaign Manager to President Obama, has been appointed to its Board of Directors. Simultaneously, PillPack is appointing Dr. Lawrence H. Summers, the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University and the 71st Secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton, as a strategic advisor to the Company.
Mr. Messina is widely credited as the mastermind behind President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign and is well known for merging technology and politics in a way that was both unpredictable and unprecedented. PillPack partnered with Mr. Messina and his firm beginning in 2015 to navigate systemic industry challenges, such as securing access to insurance networks and working productively with pharmacy benefit managers.
TJ Parker, co-founder and CEO of PillPack, stated, “PillPack has always advocated for a more open, competitive pharmacy market. This will spur new business models, drive down prices, and be better for customers. Jim has been an ally from the beginning. He helped PillPack become, today, the only independent pharmacy with nationwide home-delivery. Adding Jim to the Board gives us a strategic advantage in a rapidly shifting industry.” Read more from Dr. Parker on Medium.
Mr. Messina commented, “Defending access to healthcare has been a defining part of my career to date. Working with PillPack, I’ve seen that pharmacy is an underpowered lever to help lower costs and improve health outcomes. PillPack has a clear vision to change this model. As a Director, I’ll help them create an operating environment that benefits not only PillPack, but all consumers of healthcare.”
Former Treasury Secretary Dr. Lawrence H. Summers is one of America’s leading economists. Dr. Summers served as Director of the White House National Economic Council in the Obama Administration, as President of Harvard University, and as the Chief Economist of the World Bank. He currently serves as Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard and on the board of two cutting-edge financial services startups—Square and Lending Club—and also serves on the board of Premise.
Yvonne Hao, Chief Financial and Operating Officer of PillPack, commented, “Dr. Summers is one of the world’s most thoughtful academics on public health, health incentives, and economic models of care delivery. His expertise and insight will help PillPack move from a convenient solution to a transformational actor.”
Dr. Summers commented, “PillPack has a compelling vision, rooted in a belief that financial incentives should be oriented around the best outcome for the customer. I look forward to working with the team as they catalyze changes in this industry over the coming months and years.”
Mr. Messina joins as an independent director and is filling a previously vacant seat. Dr. Summers joins the Company’s growing strategic advisory group.
About Jim Messina: As the mastermind behind President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, Jim Messina seized the reins on what Bloomberg Businessweek dubbed “the highest-wattage crash course in executive management ever undertaken”—and succeeded, earning the President another term in the White House. With the guidance of technology’s foremost leaders, Jim abandoned every step of a traditional presidential campaign and merged technology and politics in a way that was both unpredictable and unprecedented.
Jim’s strategies established the modern presidential campaign—Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt called it “the best-run campaign ever.” The American Association of Political Consultants later crowned him the Campaign Strategist of the Year.
Jim has since gone on to advise international Presidents and Prime Ministers including David Cameron, Mexico’sEnrique Peña Nieto, Argentina’s Mauricio Macri, Italy’s Matteo Renzi and in 2016 helped Spain’s President Mariano Rajoywin a surprising re-election margin.
In 2013, Messina also launched The Messina Group. In this role, Messina provides strategic consulting to businesses around the world. The firm has been involved in winning public policy campaigns on six continents. Clients include Uber, Airbnb, Hutchison Whampoa, and over 70 others.
About Lawrence H. Summers: Dr. Summers is the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus of Harvard University. During the past two decades, he has served in a series of senior policy positions in Washington, D.C., including the 71st Secretary of the Treasury for President Clinton, Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama and Vice President of Development Economics and Chief Economist of the World Bank.
He received a bachelor of science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 and was awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1982. In 1983, he became one of the youngest individuals in recent history to be named as a tenured member of the Harvard University faculty. In 1987, Mr. Summers became the first social scientist ever to receive the annual Alan T. Waterman Award of the National Science Foundation (NSF), and in 1993 he was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, given every two years to the outstanding American economist under the age of 40.
He is currently the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University and the Weil Director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He and his wife Elisa New, a professor of English at Harvard, reside in Brookline and have six children.
About PillPack: PillPack is the largest e-commerce pharmacy in the US. The company delivers a better, simpler experience through convenient packaging, modern technology, and personalized service. PillPack uses PharmacyOS, a software platform created entirely in-house, to help manage each customer’s medications, coordinate refills and renewals, and make sure each shipment is sent on time. Learn more at pillpack.com/press.