Walgreens Names Healthcare Veteran as New CEO

Walgreens Boots Alliance has selected the former CEO of the country's largest pharmacy benefits management company as its next CEO. Tim Wentworth, who most recently served as the CEO of Express Scripts, will start his new role at Walgreens on Oct. 23, the company said in a press release. He will replace Rosalind "Roz" Brewer, who stepped down from the chief executive role in September.

Wentworth became CEO of Express Scripts following the company's merger with Medco Health Solutions in 2012, and stayed on as chief of health services when Express Scripts was acquired by Cigna in 2018. He resigned from there in 2021. He's also served in executive positions at Accredo, Medco's specialty pharmacy, as well as Mary Kay and PepsiCo.

Total Retail's Take: This move is another indication of Walgreens efforts to position itself more as a healthcare company rather than a retail chain. In recent months Walgreens took a major stake in primacy care provider VillageMD and acquired specialty pharmacy provider Shields Health as well as homecare provider CareCentrix. With this as a backdrop, it makes sense to have a leader with more of healthcare background at the helm of the pharmacy giant.

The Walgreens board said it was focused on bringing in a CEO with "deep healthcare experience."

The announcement also comes as Walgreens faces challenges in the form of walkouts from pharmacy staff across an estimated 300 store locations, according to the Associated Press. The news outlet reported the walkouts were organized because pharmacy staff felt they were short-staffed and overworked.