Walgreens Boots Alliance has named Tim Wentworth as its next CEO, effective Oct. 23, the company announced Tuesday.
Wentworth, who will also join the Walgreens board of directors, was most recently the founding CEO of Evernorth, Cigna’s health services organization. Prior to that, he was CEO of pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, which Cigna acquired in a $67 billion deal in 2018.
Related: Walgreens promises more co-branded VillageMD clinics
Wentworth also held leadership roles at Medco, including a stint as president and CEO of its specialty pharmacy Accredo, and Mary Kay Inc. He worked in human resources management at PepsiCo for nearly a decade.
Stefano Pessina, executive board chair, cited Wentworth's "deep healthcare experience" in a Tuesday news release and praised his expertise in the payer and pharmacy space, plus 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," Pessina said.
Wentworth was not immediately made available for an interview.
Former Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer stepped down in September after two-and-a-half years. Brewer played a pivotal role in Walgreens' shift toward healthcare services, investing billions of dollars in the strategy during her tenure. However, Walgreens' U.S. healthcare operations have struggled financially, reporting a fiscal year-to-date operating loss of nearly $500 million as of May 31.
The company has seen other recent shifts in its C-suite, including former Chief Financial Officer James Kehoe's departure in August and former Chief Information Officer Hsiao Wang's exit earlier this month.
Walgreens continues to invest heavily in healthcare services despite its lackluster financial performance in recent quarters.
On Monday, Tracey Brown, Walgreens' chief customer officer and president of retail, announced the company's plans to launch virtual care services later this month. It will offer dermatology, primary care, urgent care, women’s health and men’s health services.
Primary care provider VillageMD, which is opening hundreds of clinics co-located with Walgreens pharmacies, acquired Summit Health-CityMD earlier this year in an $8.9 billion deal, setting its sights on becoming a multispecialty provider.
In late 2021, Walgreens announced plans to invest $5.2 billion for majority ownership in VillageMD, along with a $970 million investment to take a majority stake in specialty pharmacy company Shields Health Solutions. Last year, Walgreens also announced it would buy the rest of home care company CareCentrix for $392 million.
