Walgreens Boots Alliance Welcomes Tim Wentworth in the role of CEO

Walgreens Boots Alliance has appointed Tim Wentworth as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer, starting on October 23. Wentworth previously served as the CEO of Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefits management company in the nation, before it was acquired by Cigna in 2018. He remained with Cigna as Chief of Cigna’s health services until his retirement at the end of 2021.

Wentworth will assume his role following Roz Brewer’s departure as CEO. This transition occurs as the company faces challenges in shifting towards becoming a provider of healthcare services beyond the pharmacy counter. During Brewer’s tenure, Walgreens made significant investments, including a stake in primary care provider VillageMD, the acquisition of specialty pharmacy provider Shields Health, and the purchase of homecare provider CareCentrix. The integration and scaling of these businesses have put pressure on Walgreens’ earnings, particularly at a time when pharmacy revenue has been affected by declining demand for COVID-19 vaccines and over-the-counter tests. In June, the company’s third-quarter profits fell short of Wall Street estimates for the first time in three years.

Walgreens’ board emphasized the importance of hiring an executive with extensive healthcare experience who could manage the company’s new services.

”I came from one of the great efficiency companies at Express Scripts — I mean, we were built to drive out waste from health care and, and we looked at everything through that lens. And that has to do by starting with our own cost structure, and there’s no question inside this company that’s every bit as important,” said Wentworth.

Stefano Pessina, Walgreens’ executive chairman, expressed confidence in Wentworth, saying, ‘Wentworth is an accomplished and respected leader with profound expertise in the payer and pharmacy space as well as supply chain, IT and Human Resources. We are confident he is the right person to lead WBA’s next phase of growth into a customer-centric healthcare company.”

The company’s core pharmacy business is also facing challenges, with pharmacists in several cities protesting understaffing at pharmacies, which non-union workers argue endangers patients.

Wentworth acknowledged the challenges faced during the Covid pandemic, where drugstore chains had to quickly pivot to become major vaccine providers and offer support to patients.

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