Leslie Donato is a highly accomplished global healthcare executive and board member with broad expertise across multiple sectors (Lifesciences, Pharma services, Provider services) and functions, including Strategy, Corporate Development, Global Marketing, Commercialization, and New Product Development. She is passionate about driving change and performance through strategy formulation and outcome-focused execution, engaging teams, and delivering exceptional customer experience.

Outside of her corporate duties, Leslie has served on the board of several institutions, including Virtua Health System, One Oncology, Edmund Optics, and Haddonfield Educational Trust. She is an asset in the boardroom as she can navigate complexity and leverage her broad experience in driving growth through strategy, M&A, and commercial excellence.

Leslie’s professional experience spans leading consultancies and healthcare companies. Most recently, as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Cencora, she was tasked with transforming the company’s Corporate Strategy and Corporate Development functions while also sourcing greater innovation through the creation of an internal product development function and a corporate venture fund. By engaging leaders throughout the organization and assessing external market dynamics across core businesses and potential adjacencies, she developed an ambitious and measurable five-year enterprise aspiration and growth strategy. In support of the strategy, she and her team closed nine acquisitions, seven strategic investments, and launched Cencora Ventures to commit $150M to venture. Cencora executed its strategy and drove performance, delivering an increase in market capitalization from $18.8B in 2019 to $43.7B in 2024.

Prior to her time at Cencora, Leslie enjoyed a successful 10-year career at Bayer Pharmaceuticals, where she held senior P&L, strategic marketing, Brand/Therapeutic Area, and corporate strategy roles.

She began her career at McKinsey, where she was a Principal in the healthcare practice and spent 14 years advising executives at top-tier pharmaceutical, biotech, and other healthcare companies.

Education:  Leslie holds a Bachelor of Arts (Economics and Public Policy) from Swarthmore College, and a Master of Business Administration (Finance and Healthcare Management) from Wharton.