John Wallis Rowe is an American businessman and academic physician, who served as chairman and CEO of Aetna Inc., a large health insurance company based in Connecticut, titles he retired from in February 2006. During his Aetna tenure, ''

Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

'' named Rowe as a “Manager of the Year.” After leaving the company, he became an active philanthropist, supporting aging research and other causes.

Career

Columbia University

John Rowe is currently the Julius B. Richmond Professor at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

's Mailman School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. He has also served as professor at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

, authoring more than 200 scientific publications, mostly on the aging process. Rowe was previously Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

. In 2010, he donated $2 million to the university’s foundation for a program that encourages students from minority groups and low-income families to enter health professions. Rowe also gave a separate $1 million for aid to help students recover from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Aetna

Prior to Columbia, John Rowe was the CEO and executive chairman of the

health insurance company Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among m ...

Aetna from 2000 to 2006. During his tenure, he transformed Aetna into a large, profitable company. Between May 2001 and March 2007, the company's stock price jumped from $5.80 to $43.87 a share. By the mid-2000s, Aetna’s operating income recovered from a $300 million loss to a $1.7 billion gain. In 2005, Rowe's compensation was $22.2 million.

Mount Sinai New York Health

Prior to Aetna, Rowe was President and Chief Executive Officer of Mount Sinai New York Health from 1998 to 2000. Before that, he was President of The Mount Sinai Hospital and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

from 1988 to 1998. In 1998, Rowe led the
now dissolved
Mount Sinai NYU Health merger that brought together five hospitals, becoming the system's president and chief executive.

Tax patents

In 2006, the Wealth Transfer Group sued Rowe for infringement of a tax patent.Floyd Norris
''Patent law is getting tax crazy''

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France, for international English-speaking readers. It published under the name ''International Herald Tribune'' starting in 1967, but its ...

, October 19, 2006. The patent was , entitled "Establishing and managing grantor retained annuity trusts funded by non-qualified stock options" (i.e. SOGRAT). The case was settled for undisclosed terms.

Publications

Rowe has published over 200 scientific publications, mostly in the field of

gerontology Gerontology ( ) is the study of the social, culture, cultural, psychology, psychological, cognitive, and biology, biological aspects of aging. The word was coined by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov in 1903, from the Ancient Greek, Greek ('), meaning "o ...

, and a textbook in the same field. He co-authored the book ''

Successful Aging Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming older until death. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi; whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biolo ...

'' with Robert Kahn.

Personal life

Rowe lives in New York City and Cape Cod, Massachusetts with his wife, who is a retired professor at

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

. Rowe attended

Canisius College Canisius University is a private Jesuit university in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 ma ...

and received his B.S. in 1966. He received his M.D. from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

in 1970. Rowe has been a Director of the

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 117 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.6 billion and ...

Research Network on Successful Aging and is currently Director of the Foundation's Research Network on an Aging Society. He is a member of the

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...

of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

, a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, a member of the Board of Trustees of the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

, a member of the Board of Trustees of the

Lincoln Center Theater The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Operated by the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater (LCT ...

, a member of the Board at Accolade Inc. and

Hospital Corporation of America HCA Healthcare, Inc. (historically known as Hospital Corporation of America) is an American for-profit operator of health care facilities that was founded in 1968. It is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and, as of May 2020, owned and operated 186 ...

(HCA), and former Chairman of the Board of the Marine Biological Laboratory. In 2019, Rowe was honored at the fourt
Arthur W. Page Center Awards
in New York City. He received a Larry Foster Award for Integrity in Public Communication. Rowe is a former member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and

Board of Trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

at the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, John W. Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences American geriatricians University of Rochester alumni Canisius University alumni American businesspeople Columbia University faculty Harvard Medical School faculty Living people Aetna employees Urban Institute people 1944 births Members of the National Academy of Medicine