Kevin Host is Senior Vice President of Pharmacy at Walmart, which includes leading the strategy, growth, operations, and customer omni experiences for more than 4,600 pharmacies and supports the operations of more than 2,800 Vision Centers across the United States and Puerto Rico. Kevin’s leadership reaches a team of more than 65,000 Health & Wellness associates across a portfolio of business units including specialty, mail order and central fill pharmacies as well as home office leadership and support teams.  

Kevin continues to spearhead innovation in the retail pharmacy industry and has established himself as a thought leader among colleagues and key stakeholders. Kevin currently serves on the executive board, as the former Chair, for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores where his expertise has been leveraged to advance the evolution of pharmacy practice, advocating for scope of practice expansion and empowering pharmacists as direct providers of care. Kevin is also an executive board member for Clarus One where he supports the sourcing of cost-effective medications, helps improve supply chain resiliency and price optimization. Through his board positions and leadership roles, he maintains productive interactions with policymakers, federal and state legislators and agency administrators. He has presented and participated in dozens of panel discussions, seminars and publications, including an executive panel discussion on impact makers with the American Cancer Society in 2023 and at the White House Conference on Hunger and Nutrition in 2022.

Prior to joining Walmart, Kevin was President and COO of Avita, where he led the integration of multiple acquisitions focused on providing pharmacy services to patients and providers in the HIV community.

Before Avita, Kevin led Pharmaceutical Strategies (PSG) pharmacy benefit consulting and 340B divisions. He has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical benefit industry and a strong background in specialty benefit management, product development, pharmacy operations and mentoring emerging leaders. Kevin also served as Senior Vice President of specialty pharmacy at OptumRx for over a decade and was responsible for UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx specialty pharmacy programs, which included specialty drug distribution, clinical program development and benefits and outcomes strategy designs. 

Kevin earned his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of the Pacific in California. He has also served as a member of various industry boards including the Genentech Oncology Trend Report and the URAC Pharmacy Advisory Group, where he helped establish the first comprehensive accreditation standards for specialty and mail service pharmacies.