Welcome to the Transform Awards Winner Spotlight Series, celebrating innovation and leadership in reshaping industries and workplaces globally. These awards commend individuals and companies at the forefront of transformation, setting new standards and challenging the status quo. Recognized for their people-centric and visionary approaches, our awardees are the global changemakers pioneering advancements in business, entrepreneurship, and beyond. This series shines a light on their achievements and the impactful ways they’re moving the world of work forward.
About the Transform 10 Award
The Transform 10 recognizes the ten most inspirational executive leaders leading transformation across their areas of influence and moving the world of work forward. These people-centric, global changemakers challenge the status quo through business, venture, or entrepreneurial leadership.
About Transform 10 Award Winner: Sherry Rais, Founder & CEO, Enthea
Sherry Rais is the CEO and Co-Founder of Enthea, a pioneering benefit plan administrator dedicated to expanding access to innovative mental health treatments through employer-sponsored care. With a public health and neuroscience background, Sherry has worked with global organizations including the United Nations and the World Bank. At Enthea, she leads a mission-driven team focused on integrating cutting-edge mental health services into workplace benefits, focusing on equity and impact. Her leadership bridges the gap between science, systems, and compassion, ensuring that transformative care is accessible to the people who need it most.
Leadership Journey
Transform: What does being named a Transform 10 leader mean to you personally?
Sherry: Being named a Transform 10 leader is a deeply meaningful honor. It validates the hard work, vision, and often uphill journey of building a company rooted in compassion and equity. To be recognized alongside other changemakers affirms that the future of work includes mental health as a foundational pillar – and I’m humbled to play a role in shaping that future.
“Leaders must do what AI cannot: hold complexity, inspire trust,
and cultivate conscious cultures.”
Transform: Can you share a little about your personal journey into leadership?
Sherry: My leadership journey began in international development, working with organizations like the UN and World Bank. I saw firsthand how systems often fail those who need support the most. That awareness, combined with seeing the global mental health crisis explode in front of me, led me to co-found Enthea. Leadership for me has always been about serving people, serving purpose, and serving change.
Transform: What pivotal moment or experience most shaped how you lead today?
Sherry: One pivotal moment that shaped my leadership style came early in my career during a project abroad. I managed a team of brilliant individuals from different cultural and professional backgrounds. I realized that effective leadership wasn’t about having all the answers but about creating space for others to shine. That experience taught me the value of listening deeply, leading humbly, and building trust before making decisions. To this day, I strive to lead collaboratively and center the wisdom of the people closest to the work.
Transform: What inspired you to take on the transformation work you are leading now?
Sherry: I was deeply moved and alarmed by the growing mental health crisis and the limitations of traditional treatments. While SSRIs and other antidepressants can be helpful for some, research shows that up to 60% of people are treatment-resistant. That means millions of people are left suffering, despite doing everything “right” in the current system. I knew we needed new pathways to healing and new systems to make those treatments accessible. That urgency inspired me to co-found Enthea and build an infrastructure that could bring innovative mental health care to the people who need it most.
Impact & Influence
Transform: How do you define meaningful impact in the work you do?
Sherry: Meaningful impact means creating real access to healing. It’s not just about numbers, it’s about the stories behind them. When someone can return to work, rebuild their relationships, or even find hope again because they can access effective treatments through Enthea, that’s meaningful.
Transform: Can you share an example of a transformational change you’ve helped lead that you are especially proud of?
Sherry: I’m especially proud that Enthea became the first company to offer ketamine-assisted therapy as an employee benefit. We’ve now partnered with multiple employers and have more than 250,000 lives covered, including union workers and others historically underserved by mental health systems. That’s a fundamental shift in how care is delivered.
Transform: How has your leadership impacted your organization, industry, or community?
Sherry: At Enthea, we’ve built a mission-driven culture rooted in empathy and integrity. Industry-wide, we’re setting the standard for safe, ethical, and scalable access to psychedelic care. And for communities, primarily blue-collar and frontline workers, we’re creating access where there was none before.
“Leadership for me has always been about
serving people, serving purpose, and serving change.”
Insights & Learning
Transform: What is one of the biggest lessons you’ve learned about leading people-first change?
Sherry: One of the biggest lessons is that people-first change requires patience, humility, and deep listening. True transformation doesn’t happen overnight, especially in HR. But when you keep people at the center, even the slowest progress is worth it.
Transform: What advice would you give to future leaders who want to create a lasting impact?
Sherry: Stay mission-aligned, even when the path gets hard. Build your movement before your business. And don’t be afraid to challenge broken systems – real impact often begins where others say, “That’s just how it is.”
Vision for the Future
Transform: What trends or shifts do you believe will define the next era of leadership?
Sherry: As AI continues to reshape the workforce, the next era of leadership will be defined by distinctly human qualities: emotional intelligence, intuition, ethical judgment, and the ability to foster meaning and connection. Leaders must do what AI cannot: hold complexity, inspire trust, and cultivate conscious cultures in an increasingly automated world. Navigating this shift will require a new kind of intelligence: not just technical or strategic, but deeply human and systems-aware.
Transform: How do you hope your work today will influence the future of workplaces, teams, or industries?
Sherry: I hope our work makes mental health support as common and expected as dental or vision care. I envision a future where psychedelic therapy is integrated into benefits plans nationwide: helping teams thrive, reducing burnout, and addressing trauma at its root.
Transform: What’s next for you in your leadership journey?
Sherry: Professionally, I’m focused on scaling Enthea’s reach and impact: building the infrastructure needed to support access to transformative mental health care at a national level.
I’m deepening my leadership by staying connected to presence, purpose, and consciousness. In a world that moves quickly and automates everything, I believe the future belongs to leaders who can hold stillness, ask better questions, and lead from an inner alignment that technology can’t replicate.
Final Reflections
Transform: Is there a moment or experience along your journey that you’ll never forget?
Sherry: It’s not one specific moment, but an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the people who’ve stood by me every step of the way. Building something meaningful is never a solo effort, and I feel incredibly lucky to be surrounded by loved ones, advisors, and teammates who believe in the mission and in me. Their presence, through the highs and the hard days, is what I’ll never forget.
Transform: How would you describe the spirit of the Transform Community and what it means to be part of it?
Sherry: The Transform Community is bold, human-centered, and future-facing. Being part of it means committing to change not just for profit, but for people.
Transform: Is there anything else you’d like to share with the Transform Community?
Sherry: Thank you for recognizing this work. I hope it inspires others to reimagine what’s possible in both healthcare and the workplace. If we lead with heart, the systems will follow.
Check out our other Transform Spotlights on the blog to learn more about our Global Ambassadors, People-First Leaders, Authors, Award Winners, and more!