Dive Brief:
- Walgreens Boots Alliance SVP and CIO Hsiao Wang has left the company after a year at the retail pharmacy company. Bloomberg first reported the news.
- Wang, who joined the company in September 2022, has been on a leave of absence and departed Walgreens effective Monday, according to an email interim CEO Ginger Graham sent to staffers Monday obtained by sister publication CIO Dive. A Walgreens spokesperson confirmed the news in an email.
- Neal Sample, a seasoned executive with stints at Michaels and Express Scripts, has stepped in "to make decisions in the near term around resourcing, projects and other critical initiatives," Graham said in the note.
Dive Insight:
Wang's departure adds to ongoing flux in the retail pharmacy company's leadership suite.
Former Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer, whose leadership experience includes stints at Starbucks and Walmart, stepped down Sept. 1 as the company's board moved to appoint a leader with healthcare experience.
Brewer served as CEO for less than three years. The company's lead independent director, Ginger Graham, stepped in as interim CEO as the search for a permanent replacement unfolds.
The company's search for a new leader reportedly includes Tim Wentworth, a healthcare executive who oversaw Express Scripts before Cigna acquired the business in 2018. Sample worked with Wentworth at Express Scripts, first as CIO and later as COO, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Amid Walgreens' push toward healthcare services, the company missed Wall Street expectations in its Q3 2023 earnings report, for the period ending May 31.
"We are disappointed to have to change our fiscal 2023 guidance," said then CEO Brewer during the call. "While we achieved good sales growth and returned to adjusted earnings growth in the quarter, several dynamics created margin pressures that we are factoring into our full-year outlook."
In May, the company announced it would lay off more than 500 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, as part of a sharper focus on its healthcare operations.
