Rob Clark

Rob Clark is Vice President of GGlobal Communications and Corporate Marketing for Medtronic, Inc., the world’s leading medical technology company. In this role, Clark leads Medtronic’s global public relations, internal communications, corporate marketing, social media and philanthropy teams worldwide. His group works to advance Medtronic’s key business objectives through innovative, compelling and integrated communication and philanthropic programs and strategies. Previously, Clark served as the Vice President of Healthcare Modernization for Optum, the multi-billion dollar services and IT support business of UnitedHealth Group. Optum develops and markets IT systems that gather, house and analyze data for use by payers, hospitals, governments and physicians to deliver better health outcomes. Clark was responsible for leading Optum’s public policy and related communications initiatives to advance the unit’s business objectives. He coordinated and lead cross-functional groups and partnered with colleagues across UHG and Optum to develop strategies, policy positions and priorities, and action plans to address policy issues, including areas such as data security and privacy; interoperability of health systems; fraud, waste and abuse, and new payment methodologies and systems. Prior to his time with Optum, Clark held a variety of Communications and Government Affairs positions with Medtronic. He served Sr. Director of Corporate State Government Affairs where he was responsible for leading Medtronic’s state advocacy program in the United States.. He also previously served as Medtronic’s Sr. Director of Corporate Public and Media Relations where he was responsible for leading the Corporate Public and Media Relations program as well as managing the public relations function for Medtronic’s three cardiovascular businesses, which accounted for more than 50% of the company’s annual revenues. Clark was Medtronic’s lead spokesperson for all corporate matters to national, local and trade media outlets. Clark also served in a variety of Communications and Government Affairs leadership positions with ADC Telecommunications, Digi International and Acterna. Mr. Clark also served in the United States Air Force and Air Force Reserve, where he was a Minuteman II ICBM Missile Launch Crew Officer and Public Affairs Officer. He attained the rank of Major. Clark is a graduate of The Virginia Military Institute with a B.A. in English. He holds a M.A. in Political Science from the University of South Dakota. He lives in Plymouth, Minnesota with his wife Laura and two sons, Nathan and Andrew.

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