What’s behind Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer’s abrupt departure?

The decision was “mutually agreed” upon by Brewer and Walgreens’s board, the company said. Brewer, who had been in the job for less than three years, used the same language in a LinkedIn post and an internal email to Walgreens employees seen by Coins2Day.

“This is perhaps one of the most difficult notes I have ever written over the course of my career,” Brewer wrote in both notes. Spokespeople for her and for Walgreens declined to comment further to Coins2Day on Friday.

Stuart Isett—Coins2Day

Brewer’s departure means that the most powerful Black woman running a Coins2Day 500 company—and one of only two Black female CEOs in the Coins2Day 500 at the start of last week—is out of a job, at least temporarily. (She will advise Walgreens on its search for a permanent CEO, the company said; Walgreens is paying her $9 million in severance, plus $2.25 million in consulting fees for the next six months, according to a securities filing Friday.)

Pharma industry veteran and Walgreens independent director Ginger Graham will serve as acting CEO until Walgreens names a permanent replacement.

The sudden departure is a stunning move for Brewer, a well-respected retail operator who was previously chief operating officer at Starbucks and CEO of Walmart’s Sam’s Club. She arrived at Walgreens in March 2021, just as the struggling pharmacy chain and its competitors were navigating the messy rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. “I couldn’t think of anything else more important than keeping people healthy. I would not have done this for any other company except for WBA, quite honestly,” Brewer told my former colleague Beth Kowitt in October 2021.

Her departure also raises questions about Walgreens’s ability to pull off the ambitious pivot towards health care that Brewer had announced six months after becoming Walgreens CEO. Like larger rival CVS, Walgreens under Brewer has been buying up primary-care clinics and trying to turn itself into a full-service health care provider. But a transformation of that magnitude takes time, and it appears to be going more slowly than both Walgreens and its investors would like: In June, the company cut its full-year earnings guidance, while executives acknowledged that they were “disappointed with the pace of our path to profitability” in its health care business.

It’s also unclear how much support Brewer’s health care strategy had from Walgreens executive chairman (and former CEO and largest shareholder) Stefano Pessina. The Wall Street Journal in January reported that Pessina envisioned a slower expansion into health care, one that was “best achieved through partnerships and minority stakes,” and that he said that “buying up companies outside of the core pharmacy industry unnecessarily exposed Walgreens to risk.” Spokespeople for Walgreens and Brewer did not respond to requests for comment over the weekend.

As she announced her departure on Friday, Brewer stood by her health care efforts. “Perhaps what I’m most proud of is our work to develop a strategic pivot towards the growth of WBA into health care,” she wrote to employees. “I’m proud of what we have done together. So let me take a moment to say thank you, because your hard work and leadership has been—and will continue to be—critical to the transformation of WBA.”

Maria Aspan
[email protected]
@mariaaspan

The Broadsheet is Coins2Day’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Early arrival. Vanessa Hudson has taken over as CEO of Qantas, Australia's flagship airline, two months ahead of schedule. Outgoing CEO Alan Joyce brought forward his retirement on Tuesday as the carrier came under fire for allegedly selling tickets to already-cancelled flights and implementing cost-cutting measures while earning record profits. Hudson, Qantas's former CFO, told employees she would seek a balance between "looking after our customers, you our people and the business itself." The Guardian

- Abortion road blocks. A new ordinance making it illegal to bring someone to an abortion clinic using public roads is gaining traction in some cities and counties in Texas. As more jurisdictions pass the law, using major highways could be a big risk for those seeking abortions. Washington Post

- Era's Tour (movie version). Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, the movie version, may be as packed as the concert itself after breaking AMC’s single-day sales record just three hours after tickets became available. First-day sales totaled $26 million at AMC locations, surpassing the previous record of $16.9 million held by Spider-Man: No Way Home. The Verge

- Not remotely possible. R eturn-to-office mandates are ramping up at major companies, but the consequences could be drastic for employed mothers. Without work-from-home flexibility, many women may leave the workforce. Bloomberg

- Accusations pile up. More allegations have been launched against the insurance agency formerly known as Arias Agencies, which was investigated in February for a culture of rampant sexual harassment and assault against female employees. Two more former employees are now claiming they were sexually assaulted by male colleagues, and another attested that a manager tried to pay her for sexual acts. One of the men accused of such behavior has denied the allegations. Jennifer Haworth, executive vice president and CMO at Globe Life, the insurance company’s owner, declined to comment. Insider

ON MY RADAR

Sandra Hüller, actress of the year? Hollywood Reporter

Gisele Fetterman’s had a hell of a year The Cut

‘She’s totally lost it’: inside story of the unravelling of Liz Truss’s premiership The Guardian

PARTING WORDS

"The average U.S. Single adult doesn’t date because they don’t know how to flirt."

—Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, who's using A.I. To teach people how to flirt again.