Gold Heart honoree has long focused on championing communities

Raised in a family rooted in community empowerment, Bert Scott spent many Saturdays as a teen in the 1960s helping his parents organize peaceful protests of Chicago grocers that did not hire or serve Black residents.

"My job was to drive the older folks to the next closest grocery store so they could shop, and then bring them home," said Scott, adding that he began to recognize how differences in economic access hurt people.

"In certain communities on the South Side, jobs were fewer and crime rates were higher compared to other neighborhoods," he said. "It took me until I was a little older to understand the impact on health."

That experience shaped Scott's focus on equitable health during a storied career that included senior executive roles at several companies, including as CEO of Affinity Health Plan.

For his lifetime of transformative contributions, including his service as chairperson of the board in 2019-21, Scott is a 2025 recipient of the Gold Heart Award, the American Heart Association's highest volunteer honor. He will be recognized at the association's National Volunteer Awards ceremony in Plano, Texas, on June 17.

Early in Scott's corporate journey, his dad died from heart disease, at 54, setting him on a path of volunteer service with the association, starting with Heart Walk. He sought to understand why cardiovascular disease claimed so many men in his family and community.

Decades later in 2001, his wife Kathleen suddenly died from a hemorrhagic stroke at 52, deepening his devotion to understanding women's cardiovascular risks across life stages including menopause. The couple had just celebrated their 30th anniversary.

"She was having a little trouble with blurred vision and headaches. We thought it might be sinus trouble or allergies," he said. "It turned out to be so much more."

In her memory, Scott created the Kathleen Scott Research Fellowship in 2002, launching the research career of its first recipient, Dr. Mitchell S.V. Elkind, who became the association's 2020-21 president and the second neurologist to hold the office.

The two men came full circle in July 2020 as national leaders of the association, building on the work begun by Scott and 2019-20 President Dr. Robert Harrington to guide the association through the COVID-19 pandemic, a period that tested the organization's mettle like nothing else in its history.

Within 30 days of COVID-19's arrival in the United States, the association — under Scott's and Harrington's leadership — funded rapid response research on the heart and brain impact of the virus, developed training for frontline health-care workers and stood up the COVID-19 CVD Registry.

"With Bert at the helm, we emerged better and bolder to become a $1 billion organization serving the health needs of the nation," said American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown.

During more than 30 years of volunteering for the association, Scott had already earned high praise as a thought leader and convener. As chairperson of the New York board, he guided the affiliate through consolidation into the Founders Affiliate. After moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, he chaired the local Heart Ball for three years and co-chaired the 2018 Go Red for Women® luncheon.

At the national level, he served on the executive committee of the AHA Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine, a platform that allowed researchers to collaborate and analyze large datasets, ultimately benefiting patients. His memberships included the Paul Dudley White Legacy Society and Circle of Red, whose supporters help fund the association's mission.

In 2019, when Scott became national chairperson, taking on the tobacco industry for promoting vaping among teens was at the top of his list. The American Heart Association announced a $20 million research investment to study the health toll of e-cigarettes and launched the #QuitLying campaign. Another priority was setting the organization's long-term vision, resulting in the 2030 Impact Goal to increase healthy life expectancy.

And yet his most profound, deeply personal goal was strengthening the organization's efforts to improve social drivers of health, the conditions in which people are born and live that affect their health and longevity. The outcomes would become the crowning achievements of his time in office.

"When it became clear that COVID-19 disproportionately impacted historically underrepresented communities, we had to answer the question of why," he said. "Science pointed us to social drivers like lack of access to healthy food, affordable housing, economic opportunity, clean air and quality health care."

With Scott's guidance, the association established a 2024 Impact Goal to "advance cardiovascular health for all, including identifying and removing barriers to health care access and quality." This strategic direction accelerated near-term efforts to close gaps in care through investments in scientific research, community-driven initiatives, public education, and policy advocacy focused on improving health outcomes for all populations.

"The American Heart Association and the communities we serve are stronger today because of Bert's leadership," Brown said. "We exponentially increased investments in our Social Impact Fund and Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund, with grants supporting local organizations working to expand access to nutrition, housing, mental and physical health care, education and economic opportunity."

As current chairperson of the Communications and Marketing Coordinating Committee and past chairperson of the 2028 Brand Goal Workgroup, Scott's guidance was also vital to creating the association's Second Century brand positioning and messaging and establishing a bold goal to introduce the brand to an additional 13 million people.

Of all Scott's accolades, including being named one of the "75 Most Powerful Blacks in Corporate America" by Black Enterprise in 2005 and one of "The 50 Most Powerful Black Executives in America" by Fortune in 2002, he says the Gold Heart Award is most meaningful. In a moment of serendipity, his longtime friend and volunteer colleague Mitch Elkind will receive the same honor.

"I never set out to be an officer, just a good volunteer with good ideas," he said. "Those other awards were about work accomplishments. This honor is about what I do from my heart. And to be recognized similarly with Mitch, a great scientist and even better human being, is amazing."