Walgreens Adds Customer Experience Lead
“I am pleased to welcome [Gray], [Brown] and [Gruener] to the WBA family,” said Rosalind (Roz) Brewer, CEO, Walgreens Boots Alliance. “They will be instrumental in continuing to build momentum across our business, as we further innovate, and work to define the future of health and well-being in the communities we serve for many years to come. I’m confident we will have the right leadership teams in place, bringing new energy and a wealth of experience to achieve our business and growth objectives.”
Walgreens Boots Alliance has made more changes to its executive leadership team with the addition of three new hires, including former CEOof the American Diabetes Association (ADA), Tracey Brown, for a newly created role leading customer experience.
On Aug. 27, WBA announced Brown as its first president of retail products and chief customer officer at Walgreens. In this new role, Brown will lead Walgreens’ customer experience across all consumer touchpoints and will help create and execute key strategies. She will be responsible for the visioning, leadership, strategic direction and performance of the customer experience, developing a “unique and modern” customer value proposition, according to a news release.
In addition, Brown will oversee marketing and merchandising at Walgreens and work to accelerate the retailer’s digital transformation to provide a unified and consistent brand experience. She will report to John Standley, executive vice president, WBA and president of Walgreens, starting early November.
Since 2018, Brown was CEO of the ADA, where she spearheaded a healthcare transformation and financial turnaround, per the release. Prior to the ADA, Brown was svp of operations and chief experience officer for Walmart and Sam’s Club, where she worked on growing the customer experience, transforming merchandise and leading digital platforms and strategy. She also served as chief member and marketing officer, overseeing membership operations, data and analytics, omnichannel integration, personalization and other initiatives.
Other executive appointments announced include:
- Former White House lawyer Danielle Gray was nabbed from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina to serve as evp and global chief legal officer for WBA. Gray will start at the company next month and report to CEO Roz Brewer.
- Jeff Gruener joins Walgreens as senior vice president and chief financial officer from Walmart. Gruener reports to James Kehoe, evp and global chief financial officer, WBA, as of Aug. 30.
Back in March, Brewer officially took the reigns as CEO of WBA, making her the only Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company at the time.
