Roz Brewer, a 1984 graduate of Spelman College, has been tapped as the new CEO of Walgreens, making her the only Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company.
She will take over the Deerfield, Illinois-based pharmacy chain, which employs more than 450,000 people and has more than 21,000 stores globally, on March 15.
“I step into this role with great optimism for the future,” Brewer said in a statement.
Brewer, who also chairs the Spelman College Board of Trustees, had been the chief operating officer of Starbucks since 2018.
“Her path through excellence is a perfect example of how the Spelman experience lays the foundation for a lifetime,” said Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell in a letter to the college community. “Roz Brewer is one link in a long chain of wondrous Spelman women.”
Brewer succeeds Stefano Pessina, who served as CEO for six years following the merger between Walgreens and Alliance Boots in 2014. Pessina will transition to executive chairman of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.’s board.
Brewer “is a distinguished and experienced executive who has led organizations globally through periods of changing consumer behavior by applying innovation that elevates customer experiences,” Pessina said.
Brewer revamped stores at Starbucks, taking out clutter and cutting down on administrative work so employees could focus on customers and speed up service, according to the Associated Press. She helped grow Starbucks’ rewards program and pushed for more diversity in its ranks.
Prior to joining Starbucks, Brewer served as president and CEO of Sam’s Club, the members-only warehouse channel of Walmart Inc. Before that, Brewer, who has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Spelman, was with Kimberly-Clark Corp. for 22 years as a scientist and ultimately president of the Global Nonwovens Sector.
She joined the Spelman board in 2006 and became chair in 2011.
“Her steady hand, clear vision, deep appreciation for faculty and staff, and fierce love of Spelman students and alumnae are evident everywhere,” Campbell said. “She has been indefatigable in her commitment to the college’s unmatched academic outcomes.”
Ursula Burns was the first Black woman to run a Fortune 500 company when she became CEO of Xerox in 2009. But she lost that role in 2016 when Xerox split into two companies.
There are only a handful of other Black CEOs in the Fortune 500, including Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison.
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