Democratic gubernatorial candidate Helena Foulkes visited Warren on the evening of Monday, April 4, sharing her backstory and answering questions at a meeting of the Democratic Town Committee.

The Providence native is the oldest of five children (“A big, glorious family,” she said.) A mother of four whose husband teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design, Foulkes returned to Providence after college and began her career at CVS. It was to be her professional home for most of her career (to date) and is was where she would develop the executive leadership skills that she says qualify her to serve as the chief executive of our state.

“My story really is that I grew up in the business world,” she said. “I came back from school and started working at CVS in 1992. My first job at CVS, I was actually in charge of figuring out how to fit all the Christmas merchandise across all our 1,400 stores. It’s not a sexy as it sounds,” she added, to laughter from the gathered audience. “But it was a great experience.”

During the course of her tenure at CVS she helped steer the company from its beginnings as a pharmaceutical retail chain to its position today as a major health care company. Her commitment to her work as a national health care leader was brought into focus early on in her career.

“I had four children very quickly — four kids in four and a half years,” she said. “And when my youngest was one and my oldest was five I got cancer and the thing that I realized in that experience was I was really lucky because I had health insurance…and I was working for a company that was great to me. So it created a real sense of loyalty to the company.”

Beyond her obvious success in helping lead CVS through substantial growth over the years, Foulkes’ leadership and business acumen worked hand-in-hand with her heart and ethics, most notably with one of her proudest accomplishments: getting cigarettes off the shelves of CVS stores nationwide.

“That was in 2014. We were doing $2 billion a year in cigarette (sales)…we were having conversations with doctors and hospitals and health plans about how we keep the cost of health care down and we knew cigarettes were killing 480,000 people a year with tobacco-related illness.”

“It was so hard, but it was also really personal for me — I lost my mother to lung cancer. So for me it was a very proud thing to be able to work on and I can't tell you how many people in the company were proud to work for us at that time.”

After 25 years at CVS, Foulkes left to become CEO of Hudson’s Bay Company, the retail giant and parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue, among others. When she started, they were losing $1 billion a year, and within four years, Foulkes reorganized them to a cash neutral position before leaving as the company went private in early 2020. That move coincided with the start of the pandemic.

“My last four years (prior to 2020) I ran a retail business with 200,000 people working for me; I was responsible for $80 billion in sales…and then I’m sitting here in Rhode Island in the middle of COVID.”

“I feel like we're at this critical crossroads — on one hand, so many people suffered and struggled and are still doing so, at the same time we have billions of dollars coming in [American Rescue Plan funds]. I think it's such an exciting time, to think about what could the next decade look like, and I would love to be able to bring my leadership and management skills to a place where I can make a difference for the state.”

A three-pronged plan
If elected, Foulkes said she would focus her efforts on education, affordability and the economy.

“From an education perspective, I'm really the only person in the race who has a very concrete big plan to turn around public education in our state,” she said. “I propose we spend a billion dollars, half a billion of that will come from the ARPA funds, 300 million from school construction bonds, and then another 200 million that we get from the federal government for things like universal Pre-K.”

She is also interested in focusing on affordability. “Everywhere I go, people talk about feeling priced out of the state, housing being the number one issue. What I hear most often is people saying that they are not sure if their kids are going to be able to afford to live here…Rhode Island has produced the least number of new housing units per capita of any state in the country in the last decade. So we really have a supply issue which doesn't get solved overnight, but I have some short term and long term ideas to fix that.”

“And then finally, the economy…we all want to make sure that we're providing for our families,” she said. “And I think that comes from ensuring that businesses feel supported…At the same time that we're nurturing the businesses that are here, we could be really investing in attracting startups and new growth companies.”

Citing her visit to Hope & Main earlier on Monday, she said, “Here's a great incubator that has has spawned 300 businesses…It's really exciting.”

Foulkes went on to talk in greater deal about priorities that are critical components of those bold-stroke categories, including the blue and green economy, healthcare, alternative energy, and adaptability.

“I know all of you have been very much on the leading edge of making sure that from an adaptability perspective, you're thinking about what a town like Warren will look like in 50 years. I know you're dealing with complicated issues, and I applaud you for that.”

Foulkes also faced questions about both her plans and experience, including one that asked what role CVS may have had in the ongoing opioid crisis.

“I have been devastated about that, and angry about Perdue Pharma,” she said, noting that CVS’ role was to serve as the middleman between manufacturers and prescribers. She said that following the issuance of CDC guidelines in 2016, CVS took action as soon as they started noticing irregularities in the volume of pills going out in certain stores and from certain prescribers. “I led the work in all 50 states across the industry to reduce the number of pills prescribed for minor surgery as well as the the insurance payouts for pills beyond a certain amount…CVS and I were on the leading edge [reacting to the crisis],” she said. “I can tell you with complete conviction that I have nothing to hide, and I am proud of that leadership role.”

“What I love to do is lead big teams and do big bold things that matter in life. Those are the things that made me proud. I'm not scared of making hard decisions, you can see that from the things that I've done,” she said. “And I do know how to get great talent around the table and hold people accountable for things that should be happening. I think that's relevant to what's happening right now.”