100 Most Influential People in Healthcare - 2021

Before his role in the Biden administration, Zients was director of the National Economic Council, assistant to the president for economic policy under President Obama, and acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, where he helped manage the 2013 deployment of HealthCare,gov. In his role as response coordinator, Zients has responsibility for the government’s efforts to fight COVID-19, the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, and the Global Health Initiative.

Zients speaks: “When you pull together a whole-of-government response with all the areas of expertise like the CDC, FEMA, active-duty troops, you can make a huge difference in a short period of time. In a terrible crisis that this country has faced, we’ve made huge progress because of this whole-of-government effort, President Biden’s leadership and our partnership with state and local officials.”