New Walgreens CEO Will Have to Shake Chairman’s Enduring Grip
Its leadership invested in stores when the bigger opportunity was in health care—and as a new CEO steps in a prescription for growth remains elusive.
After six years of precipitous stock declines for Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. under the leadership of Stefano Pessina, the board decided in early 2021 to bring in a fresh perspective—or so it seemed. What had made Pessina a billionaire in Europe wasn’t working in the US. His long-held ambitions of turning Walgreens into a global retailer, when American drugstores operate primarily as pharmacies, had halved the company’s value.
But it’s been two and a half years since Pessina handed over the reins, and the transition was so unsuccessful that the last chief executive officer, Rosalind Brewer, left abruptly in August—not even staying long enough for the departure press release to go out. Her chief financial officer had already quit this summer, and on Oct. 2 came word the chief information officer was out, too. Now Pessina, and the board he chairs, has selected Tim Wentworth as the new CEO and is still trying to plug the remaining holes in the C-suite. The biggest challenge may lie in convincing Wentworth and others that he’s not going to get in their way.