Walgreens Boots Alliance chief executive officer Tim Wentworth Thursday made an interim chief financial officer permanent and tapped a new head of the company’s growing healthcare business as he fills his executive team.
Meanwhile, the drugstore chain said it has reduced its stake in pharmaceutical distributor Cencora, selling stock valued at $992 million. Walgreens, which has sold stock in the distributor at other times in the last two years, said its ownership of Cencora, formerly known as AmerisourceBergen, has decreased from about 15 percent to 13 percent.
Proceeds of the sale “will be used primarily for debt paydown and general corporate purposes, as the company continues to build out a more capital-efficient health services strategy rooted in its retail pharmacy footprint,” Walgreens said.
The moves come as Wentworth works to turn around the iconic drugstore chain, which named three executives to new or permanent posts. Walgreens said Mary Langowski joins the company to lead its U.S. Healthcare segment; Manmohan Mahajan, interim CFO since July 2023, is now permanent chief financial officer; and Elizabeth Burger joins the company as chief human resources officer.
“Today’s announcement solidifies the leadership team that will carry WBA into its future as we look to expand our reach beyond neighborhood pharmacies into the fastest-growing areas of healthcare,” Wentworth said.
Langowski was CEO of Solera Health and had earlier worked as executive vice president and chief strategy and corporate development officer at rival CVS Health, “where she helped lead the organization’s evolution and execution as a healthcare company, leading the foundational work for its healthcare services strategy and key aspects of CVS’ acquisition of Aetna,” Walgreens said in a statement.
“We have a strong team with a track record of operational excellence and an unwavering commitment to the execution of our goals,” he added. “The spirit of this leadership team is one of collaboration, transparency and working effectively together. We share a sharp focus on the important goals in front of us, unlocking embedded profitability and reshaping our healthcare strategy to deliver sustainable value for our stakeholders.”
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