Elevance Health CEO Gail Boudreaux didn’t start her career behind a desk: She started it on a basketball court.
“My first full-time professional job was as a professional basketball player in Versailles, France,” Boudreaux told Fortune in 2019. “Without speaking the language, I got on a plane, moved there for a year, and joined a team that all spoke only French.”
Boudreaux, a then-recent graduate of Dartmouth College, had just spent the past four years balancing a degree in psychology with basketball games and track and field championships. After graduating in 1982, Boudreaux played professional basketball in France for one year before joining health insurance company Aetna at her first corporate job.
“What I learned from that is you can do anything if you’re willing to be open-minded and take on a challenge,” Boudreaux said of her professional basketball career.
That mindset has carried her through nearly a decade at the helm of one of the largest health insurers in the U.S., and one of the largest companies in the world based on revenue. As of Tuesday, Elevance Health ranked No. 31 on the 2026 Fortune Global 500, with $199.1 billion in revenue. Boudreaux is now the highest-ranking female CEO on the list.
