American businesswoman and politician Helena Foulkes is currently seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2022 election. She may be new to politics herself, but she grew up surrounded by politicians. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was one of her mother’s closest friends and has already shown public support at campaign events for Foulkes. Senator Thomas Dodd of Connecticut was Foulkes' grandfather, and his son, Senator Christopher Dodd, is her uncle.
Foulkes was born in 1964, the eldest of five children. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a bachelor’s degree and later attended Harvard Business School for her master of business administration.
In 1992, she joined CVS and worked her way up over the course of 25 years to become the company's executive vice president and chief marketing officer. She is credited with helping build CVS into one of the largest corporations in America. During her time there, she oversaw the launch of the ExtraCare card, a membership program offering savings to participants, and created the Pharmacy Advisor program, which provides advice to customers with chronic conditions. She also led the unprecedented decision to stop selling cigarettes and tobacco products in an effort for CVS to hold itself accountable as a better healthcare company.
Foulkes also served for two years as the CEO of Hudson’s Bay from 2018 to 2020. But her time with CVS is what she really comes back to as a major reason she is running for governor.
In an interview with the Providence news program “GoLocal LIVE,” she said, “I worked my way up. . . When my youngest child was just a one-year-old, I got cancer and one of the things I realized was that I was very lucky. I was lucky because I worked for a great company that gave me health insurance and paid time off. And, I want to bring that same set of comfort and experience to Rhode Islanders so they can achieve great things, too, whatever they want to in their lives.”
Foulkes is seeking to lower the costs of housing, prescription drugs, and childcare, and intends to make large investments in public schools, as well as working to spur job growth.