Sima Sistani

Company: WeightWatchers
Title: Chief Executive Officer
Industry: Health care
Hometown: Huntsville, Alabama
Notable in 2023: Adapted Weight Watchers' approach to include clinical solutions for those living with obesity.

WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani made waves in the weight management industry when WeightWatchers announced the acquisition of Sequence in March 2023, taking the iconic company into the clinicals space.

Sequence, now WeightWatchers Clinic, offers subscription services and a digital platform to connect customers to physicians who can prescribe new blockbuster weight-loss drugs like those from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly including Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound.

While medication may seem to be at odds with WeightWatchers' exercise and lifestyle brand, the obesity drug breakthroughs are an existential threat to the Weight Watchers business model if it doesn't adapt to the rapidly shifting landscape.

Sistani says both approaches are effective weight-loss techniques, and both require each other to generate the best outcomes.

"As science advances rapidly, we know there is a significant opportunity to improve outcomes for those using medications," Sistani said in a company statement at the time of the acquisition. "It is our responsibility, as the trusted leader in weight management, to support those interested in exploring if medications are right for them."

These changes could expand the customer base and revenue opportunities for WeightWatchers, which faced a $250 million loss in 2022. Prescriptions for weight loss drugs are booming and more insurance plans are expected to cover them in the future. As more drug makers bring competing products to the market, the sky-high prices of these drugs (now as much as $1,000 to $1,500 a month) should also come down leading to a larger addressable market.

After facing a digital threat from weight management startups like Noom, Sistani made the big acquisition for WeightWatchers that it needed to reflect what will define the next era in the weight-loss sector. The company also shut down many in-person meetings and physical stores after noting 80% of its customers had shifted to digital methods.

The increasing use of the new drugs reflects a broader change that has taken place over the past decade in how obesity is being thought about in society: it is a disease, not a personal flaw.

"We have to be the first to admit where we were wrong so that we can be a part of the change," Sisatani said at the 2023 HLTH Conference. "Anybody who took that as a moral failing, we want to change that and say, 'No, no, it wasn't you.'"