Our Mission
What began as an exploration of emerging treatments—initially focused on CBD and medical marijuana—has evolved into a far more ambitious vision: a unified platform that removes the structural barriers preventing innovation from reaching patients.
The Healthcare Discovery Engine brings together data, clinical insight, and operational execution to accelerate trials, streamline validation, and connect breakthrough therapies directly to care delivery.
By aligning providers, payers, and patients around actionable intelligence, the platform enables faster, more reliable translation of innovation into everyday practice. It advances a clear and enduring vision: a healthcare system where breakthroughs reach the people who need them most, when they need them most.
The mission remains constant—ensuring innovation is not only faster, but more equitable, more personalized, and more impactful for every older adult served.
OUR FOUNDER
Howard Kessler
Howard Kessler is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who, over the past seven years, has quietly led one of the most consequential efforts to transform American healthcare for older adults. Through The Kessler Initiatives—which encompass the Commonwealth Project and related national efforts—Kessler has focused on how legal, hemp-derived CBD and cannabinoid-based therapies can safely improve health outcomes for Americans 65+, while reducing dependence on more dangerous and costly pharmaceuticals.
Drawing on more than three decades of innovation in financial services, Kessler has applied the same systems-level thinking that helped reshape the payments industry to healthcare. He first rose to prominence in the early 1980s as the pioneer of the first co-branded (“affinity”) credit card at MBNA, helping grow the company from inception through its $35 billion sale to Bank of America. He later founded The Kessler Group, now the premier advisor to banks, credit unions, and payment networks, playing a defining role in the evolution of the modern paymentsecosystem.
Equally committed to philanthropy, Kessler founded the Kessler Family Foundation in 1994, supporting education, medical research, and human services. After witnessing firsthand the systemic barriers facing older adults in accessing modern, effective care, he redirected his life’s work toward reimagining senior healthcare—grounded in evidence, compassion, and value-based outcomes.
Through The Kessler Initiative, Kessler continues to apply disciplined innovation, philanthropy, and moral urgency to one goal: helping America’s seniors live longer, healthier lives—while quietly modernizing the healthcare system itself.
