Walgreens Boots Alliance
Leadership History
4 leaders · 2015 to present
Mike Motz is the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, in the role since 2025. The first chief executive was Stefano Pessina, from 2015.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Motz | Walgreens CEO | 2025 | Present | 1 |
| Tim Wentworth | Former WBA CEO | 2023 | 2025 | 2 |
| Rosalind Brewer | Chief Executive Officer | 2021 | 2023 | 2 |
| Stefano Pessina | Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer | 2015 | 2021 | 6 |
Walgreens traces back to a single Chicago drugstore Charles R. Walgreen Sr. bought in 1901. It merged with Alliance Boots in 2014 to form Walgreens Boots Alliance, which reported $147.7 billion in FY2024 sales before Sycamore Partners took it private in 2025. The company is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois.
Walgreens makes most of its money dispensing prescriptions, paid largely by insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, with patient co-pays on top. Front-of-store retail (over-the-counter health, beauty, personal care, household goods and convenience items) adds traffic and margin, and pharmacy services such as immunizations and specialty pharmacy round out the mix. Prescription reimbursement rates are negotiated with PBMs and plans, so a large share of pharmacy economics sits outside the company's direct control. Since the take-private, Walgreens is a U.S.-focused operator; Boots and the former healthcare businesses are run as separate companies under Sycamore.
Walgreens CEO
2025 – Present
1 year (current)
Named CEO effective August 28, 2025, when the Sycamore acquisition closed. Previously CEO of Staples U.S. Retail, a Sycamore portfolio company, and earlier president of Canadian pharmacy chain Shoppers Drug Mart. Under his leadership Walgreens scaled back the planned store closures in 2026.
Leads Walgreens as a private standalone pharmacy company focused on core pharmacy and store-level performance.
Former WBA CEO
2023 – 2025
2 years
Served as WBA CEO from October 2023 until the August 2025 take-private, launching a turnaround that refocused on retail pharmacy, cut costs and planned large-scale store closures.
Led the final public-company period; remained a director after the transaction. Previously led Express Scripts.
Chief Executive Officer
2021 – 2023
2 years
Brewer joined from Starbucks in March 2021.
She invested in VillageMD and other healthcare services. She stepped down in September 2023 and Tim Wentworth succeeded her.
Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
2015 – 2021
6 years
Pessina, the largest shareholder, became chief executive in 2015 after the merger of Walgreens and Alliance Boots.
He bought about 1,900 Rite Aid stores. Rosalind Brewer succeeded him in 2021 and he became executive chairman.
Walgreens faces pharmacy reimbursement pressure, pharmacist staffing and labor costs, retail theft, weak front-store traffic, long-dated store leases, and competition from CVS, Walmart, Amazon Pharmacy and mail-order. Legacy opioid litigation from the public-company era also weighed on results. Under private ownership the business carries the debt used to fund the buyout.
Notable leaders include founder Charles R. Walgreen Sr. (1901–1939), Charles R. Walgreen Jr. (1939–1969), Charles R. "Cork" Walgreen III (1969–1998), Greg Wasson (2009–2014), Stefano Pessina (2015–2021), Rosalind Brewer (2021–2023), Tim Wentworth (2023–2025), and Mike Motz (2025–present).
Three generations of the Walgreen family led the company for nearly a century (1901 to 1998), fostering an enduring culture of pharmacist ownership, profit sharing, and community trust.
A lifelong Walgreens pharmacist who rose to CEO, Wasson acquired Duane Reade in 2010 and orchestrated the transformational international merger with Alliance Boots, stepping down upon deal completion.
Billionaire Italian dealmaker Stefano Pessina combined Walgreens and Boots, executed the $4.38 billion purchase of 1,932 Rite Aid stores, and centralized international procurement before becoming Executive Chairman.
Former Starbucks COO Roz Brewer led WBA during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and pivoted the company into clinical healthcare via multi-billion-dollar investments in VillageMD, Shields Health, and CareCentrix before departing in September 2023.
Former Express Scripts CEO Tim Wentworth was brought in to stabilize pharmacy relations, cut $1 billion in overhead, slash the dividend, and navigate the strategic review that culminated in the Sycamore take-private.
Mike Motz is a seasoned retail operating executive who served as CEO of Staples U.S. Retail and President of Canadian retail giant Loblaw; Sycamore appointed him in late 2025 to run private Walgreens as a disciplined retail pharmacy operator.
Governance is managed by a private board of directors appointed by Sycamore Partners, composed of private equity operating partners, retail veterans, and pharmacy supply chain experts.
Walgreens management implemented dedicated pharmacist lunch breaks, raised hourly technician pay, reduced operating hours at overburdened locations, and automated routine script filling.
Key leaders include Chief Pharmacy Officer Rick Gates, experienced supply chain vice presidents, and specialized retail merchandising heads overseeing front-store vendor relationships.
Under Sycamore's post-deal structure, Walgreens and Boots operate as completely separate standalone companies with independent management teams, ending a decade of combined cross-Atlantic corporate overhead.
To restore store-level operational execution, stabilize retail pharmacy profitability, negotiate fair reimbursement with PBMs, and position Walgreens for long-term sustainable cash generation.
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