In the mid-term elections of 2026 held on Tuesday, Democrats achieved a series of victories, and voters in Rhode Island also elected Helena Fox, a former executive from the Fortune 500 companies, as the next governor of the state.
Fox worked at CVS for 25 years, eventually rising to become the president of its pharmacy business. After that, she left to take on the role of CEO at Hudson's Bay Company, a Canadian department store operator that no longer exists today. She has also been listed multiple times on Fortune's "Most Influential Women" list, ranking 12th in both 2015 and 2016.
Although her election as governor was her first time holding an elected public office, Fox's career has always been characterized by bold transformations, a willingness to take risks, and a learning to view failure not as a dead end.
In a podcast interview with Harvard Business School in 2024, she said, "You can strive for something, but if it doesn't succeed, other blessings may come instead. I've had many such experiences in my life and career. I believe the key is to redefine what failure looks like and to ask yourself, not only what could go wrong, but also what could possibly go well?"
Her own political career has recently provided an example of this. In 2022, Fox challenged then-Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee in the Democratic primary for the first time, but ultimately lost by a margin of about 4,000 votes. Instead of giving up, she faced McKee again in 2026. This time, she defeated McKee in the primary by a margin of over 40,000 votes and then went on to win the general election by a margin of over 100,000 votes.
This also echoes a piece of advice Fox gives to young people about their careers: “Don’t limit yourself. Go for it.”
Harvard alumnus Fox, identified as MBA, says a career is like running a marathon.
Fox grew up in Providence, Rhode Island, and is the eldest of five children in her family. Her father is a businessman, while her mother stayed at home to raise the children.
When she entered Harvard University for her undergraduate studies in 1982, “she had no idea what she wanted to do at all,” she told Fortune in 2018. She studied economics, then worked at Goldman Sachs for two years, and later went on to work at Tiffany & Co., where she did a financial job that she described as “relatively boring.” Eventually, she returned to Harvard Business School to pursue a MBA.
After graduation, Fox joined CVS and made continuous promotions over the following 25 years – but this journey was not always easy. Fox acknowledges that the work in the early stages of his career did not always meet expectations, and when reality fell short of what one hoped for, it is easy to feel frustrated.
She said, "It's like being a marathon runner. Sometimes you go through some very difficult times; you might encounter terrible bosses or work in poor conditions. I can tell you that I learned more in those moments than during the smooth times, and it is precisely because of those moments that I became a better leader."
One of the secrets to her repeated promotions is not getting entangled in trivial details, but always pushing forward with progress.
Fox said, "Don't wait too long to perfect something, because you'll lose the attention, energy, and enthusiasm of the senior team. I focused on producing some visible results early on, and then I continued to improve them and build on them. It's a continuous process, and it's still the case now. That's also what makes doing this kind of thing interesting."
During her tenure at CVS, she helped to launch the company's membership loyalty program and played a key role in the decision to cease tobacco sales. However, she has also been scrutinized due to the company's involvement in the opioid crisis, which became an issue during her campaign for governor.
Fox says that professional success means knowing when to leave.
Even though Fox has been continuously promoted at CVS, she has always had higher aspirations beyond her current position. She aspires to become the Chief Executive Officer of CVS, but feels that the path to the highest position is progressing too slowly.
Therefore, in 2018, she stepped into an unfamiliar field, leaving CVS where she had worked for 25 years, to take on the role of CEO at Hudson's Bay Company, a Canadian retailer that owned Saks Fifth Avenue at the time. The company was in a difficult situation at that point.
In the same year, she told Fortune, "I felt the need to step out of my comfort zone a bit and do something different. In many ways, I felt liberated."
Although Fox only held the position of CEO for two years, this transition still reflects a broader lesson she learned throughout her career: sometimes, advancing in one's profession means taking risks and trying new things, rather than waiting for the perfect opportunity to come to you on its own.
This attitude of being willing to take risks also extends to the political arena. As she prepares to take on the role of governor in what is considered the smallest state in the United States by area, Fox faces a series of new challenges, ranging from the affordability of living costs to the development of data centers.
She said, "I'm always thinking about how to uncover those things that can ignite your passion and the areas in which you are particularly skilled. Sometimes I do well, and sometimes not, but this has always been a central theme throughout my entire career."
