MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Zones, the global leader in longevity research and helping people live longer, healthier lives, announced today the appointment of Brett McClung as Chief Executive Officer and President. McClung brings more than two decades of executive healthcare leadership, a proven record of organizational transformation, and a deep personal connection to the Blue Zones purpose.
McClung previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Florida, where he led one of the nation's largest health systems and championed bringing Blue Zones Project® to the Jacksonville community. Prior to Baptist Health, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Leader of Texas Health Resources, where he was an executive sponsor of Blue Zones Project in Fort Worth.
After his tenure leading Baptist Health, McClung was selected as a Fellow of Stanford University's Distinguished Careers Institute (DCI), where he explored the transformation of healthcare and the opportunity to move the nation from a predominantly downstream model of treating disease toward an upstream approach focused on preventing illness and creating the conditions for people to thrive.
The experience represented an important evolution in McClung's career—from leading large, complex health systems to pursuing his longstanding passion for improving health at the community level and helping people live longer, healthier lives. He deliberately broadened his lens across the healthcare ecosystem through advisory work and engagements with venture-backed healthcare companies spanning artificial intelligence, ambulatory care, clinical trials, and digital health. These experiences deepened his understanding of how technology, innovation, new care models, and community design can come together to create healthier communities and improve longevity.
His commitment to this work also extends to his experience as an American Marshall Fellow, when he studied comparative health systems, examining how different countries organize, finance, and deliver healthcare and the lessons those models offer for improving population health.
He succeeds Ben Leedle, Blue Zones co-founder and former CEO, who remains with the company driving strategic growth and partnerships. Following Leedle's transition last May after nine years as President and CEO, the organization was guided by Scott Marcus, who served as interim president. Blue Zones extends its sincere gratitude to Marcus, who continues in his primary position as CEO of Blue Zones Kitchen, for his operational leadership leading up to this permanent transition.
Leedle commented, "The next chapter of this company will demand new energy, different leadership rhythms, and a continued willingness to evolve. Having worked with Brett as the lead sponsor and champion on major Blue Zones Project implementations, I know he has the vision, commitment, skills, and experience to lead us to new heights."
"I have spent my career trying to close the gap between the health people have today and the health they are capable of achieving," McClung said. "Blue Zones has demonstrated that when communities and organizations work together to make the healthy choice the easy choice, we can create meaningful and lasting change. I am excited to help take that mission to an even greater scale."
Blue Zones will continue to serve its current communities and partners without interruption, and the company's ongoing research, led by founder Dan Buettner, is unchanged.
"When you look at the places where people live the longest, healthiest, and happiest lives, it always comes down to environment that makes the healthy choice easy or unavoidable," said Dan Buettner, founder of Blue Zones. "As our client and partner on two of our largest Blue Zones Projects, McClung profoundly understands not only how to make communities healthier, but how to leverage our strategy to provide financial returns to healthcare systems."
About Blue Zones
Blue Zones employs evidence-based ways to help people live better, longer. The company's work is rooted in explorations and research done by founder and National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner in blue zones regions around the world, where people live extraordinarily long and/or happy lives. The original research and findings were released in Buettner's bestselling books including The Blue Zones Solution, The Blue Zones of Happiness, Blue Zones Kitchen, Blue Zones Challenge, and Blue Zones Secrets for Living Longer — all published by National Geographic books. A hit docuseries, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, was released on Netflix in 2023. Using original Blue Zones research, Blue Zones works with cities, counties, and organizations to make healthy choices easier through permanent and semi-permanent changes to our human-made surroundings. Participating communities have experienced double-digit drops in obesity and tobacco use and have saved millions of dollars in healthcare costs. For more information, visit www.bluezones.com.
Contact:
Naomi Imatome-Yun
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917.952.8534
SOURCE Blue Zones
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