Title: Chairman, Chief Executive Officer

Company: Acera Surgical

Location: Clayton, Miss.

Having served Express Scripts, Inc. since 1999, Agnès Rey-Giraud recently retired as president of international operations, as she quickly became a driving force behind many of the company’s key strategic initiatives and an influential player in the transformation of the company from a $4 billion enterprise to a $44 billion enterprise. Now, she serves as chief executive officer of Acera Surgical, a medical device company located in St. Louis, MO producing a first-in-class line of implantable nanofabricated surgical materials and related tools/accessories. There, Ms. Rey-Giraud is responsible for corporate strategy, corporate finance and business.

To prepare for her career, Ms. Rey-Giraud earned a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Saint Etienne and a Master of Management in Operations Management from Ecole de Management de Lyon, both in France, as well as an MBA from the University of Chicago. When she was mentoring at Washington University and working with a student in the graduate program, she saw an opportunity and so Acera Surgical was born. In 2011, Ms. Rey-Giraud received St. Louis Business Journal Most Influential St. Louisan and St. Louis YWCA Leader of Distinction in 2009.

There were many challenges that Ms. Rey-Giraud had to overcome, and by drawing up on her strategic thinking and team leadership, she continues today to face challenges head on and with creative acumen. Her greatest accomplishment to date is surviving cancer. Ms. Rey-Giraud finds inspiration from people, finding them interesting and knowing that she can help and make a difference validates what she does and why.