Sarah London

In 2022, Sarah London became the youngest female CEO in the Fortune 500.

After working on Seabiscuit and The Bourne Identity, Sarah London left film and joined a nonprofit called Health Leads.

She helped patients who came to the hospital with asthma triggered by black mold, kids missing school because their homes had no heat, and parents skipping medication to afford groceries.

And she saw a system willing to pay for emergency room visits. But not for safe housing, food, or heat.

So she went to Booth, earned her MBA with High Honors, and made healthcare her mission.

She started by working at Accretive Health, now R1 RCM, helping hospitals improve revenue and the patients’ financial experience.

Then she joined Humedica, a clinical analytics startup.

When Optum acquired it, she rose quickly.

Becoming Chief Product Officer at Optum Analytics and later a Partner at Optum Ventures, the investment arm of UnitedHealth.

In 2020, Centene came calling.

Sarah joined as SVP of Technology Innovation, then moved up to Vice Chair, overseeing strategy, technology, compliance, and Centene’s portfolio of independent health companies.

By 2022, she became CEO and the youngest female chief executive in the Fortune 500.

Centene is the largest Medicaid insurer in the country, serving nearly 28 million Americans... many of them uninsured or underinsured.

Sarah stepped into the top role at a time when government subsidies, Medicaid policies, and political agendas were shifting fast.

So she overhauled Centene’s tech infrastructure and used data to cut delays in care delivery, contract processing, and regulatory reporting.

She also made clear that improving health wasn’t just about what happens in the doctor’s office and prioritized addressing the real drivers of health: safe housing, nutrition, job security, transportation.

In Florida, Centene partnered with nonprofits to host baby showers for Medicaid moms.

Handing out diapers and strengthening prenatal care.

She supported CMS policies that let states fund things like asthma-safe home environments and healthy meals.

In 2025, Centene beat Wall Street expectations across the board.

$1.3B in profit.

$46.6B in Q1 revenue.

Enrollment surged in ACA plans and Medicare Advantage.

The company raised its full-year revenue guidance to $166B.

And after Centene’s stock dropped 20% in 2024, she personally bought over $250,000 in shares.

Adding to the $1.9M she invested the year before.

Because if you’re building the system, you should be the first to back it.