Dive Brief:

• Walgreens Boots Alliance Chief Digital Officer and Walgreens Chief Information Officer Abhi Dhar is leaving the drugstore retailer in March to focus on a new startup venture he describes on his LinkedIn profile as “a marketing platform for retail locations to interact with qualified local consumers through easy and elegant experiences.” 

• The venture — which, like Walgreens, is based in Illinois — is currently in stealth mode; Dhar, the unnamed firm's co-founder and CEO, says he’s raising a seed round to launch in two markets this year. "At this point in my life, if I don’t pursue the entrepreneurship path, I fear I never will and will live to regret it,” Dhar told CIO.com. 

• Dhar arrived at Walgreens in 2009 as chief technology officer. When the company merged with U.K. drugstore retailer Boots in 2014, he became senior vice president and CIO, leading its information technology and consumer-facing digital product and innovation efforts. A Walgreens spokesperson told Retail Dive on Wednesday that the company hasn't yet named Dhar's replacement, and that he will remain in the CIO role until his departure at the end of March.

Dive Insight:

Under Dhar's leadership, Walgreens has developed a number of tech solutions, including proprietary mapping analytics technology, mobile printing for photo customers and mobile loyalty capabilities. He's taking leave of the company at a time of disruption, considering that Walgreens is scrambling to salvage its planned merger with rival Rite Aid.

"Abhi has made a valuable contribution in his seven-plus years at Walgreens, including the more than two years as Walgreens CIO," a Walgreens spokesperson told Retail Dive via email. "We would like to thank Abhi for his impact and support to the success of our business and we truly wish him and his family every success in their coming business and entrepreneurial endeavours."

Late last month, the drugstore retailers boosted the number of stores they’d divest in order to assuage anti-trust concerns from the Federal Trade Commission. And they agreed to reduce the price for each share of Rite Aid common stock to be paid by Walgreens to a maximum of $7.00 per share and a minimum of $6.50 per share, or $7.37 billion to $6.84 billion, down from the $9 per share or $9.4 billion under their previous merger plan announced in 2015. 

Walgreens and Rite Aid said they also agreed to extend their merger process end date to July 31 to allow additional time to obtain regulatory approval; their previous deadline was Jan. 27.

If and when that merger of the number two and three drugstore chains in the U.S. finally closes, the combined business would surpass CVS as number one. It looks like Dhar is trading in leadership in such a behemoth to focus on the more nimble operations of startup culture.