BOSTON — The 2026 NACDS Total Store Expo brought together retailers, suppliers and pharmacy leaders in Boston, focusing on the forces reshaping community pharmacy and the broader retail health care marketplace.
Throughout the event, conversations focused on expanding the pharmacy’s role in patient care, creating more sustainable economic models, responding to rapid advances in technology and artificial intelligence, and strengthening collaboration between retailers and suppliers.
These issues were also central to two retailmediaIQ events held in conjunction with TSE, including a breakfast discussion with regional retail leaders and the annual Rx Roundtable, which convened senior retail and supplier executives to examine the future of community pharmacy.
The themes running through the event culminated at the TSE Business Program, where the National Association of Chain Drug Stores offered the first public look at a new strategic framework to guide the association and its members into the future.
NACDS Chair David B. Warner, president and CEO of KPH Healthcare Services Inc., and NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson outlined the framework, developed with input from retailer and supplier members and building on what association leaders described as an “infrastructure for sustained progress.”
Thorvardur de Shong
“As I look back over the past 20 years, I am proud of what NACDS has built together: strength, influence, credibility, and trust,” Anderson said. “We have used that strength to deliver for members, advance pharmacy, and serve the American people. Today, NACDS enters its next chapter from a position of strength.”
The strategy is initially organized around two imperatives: “Shape the Future of Pharmacy” and “Strengthen Member ROI.”
The first calls for advancing pharmacy beyond its traditional dispensing role and into care delivery, health and wellness innovation, and sustainable economic models. The second aims to make the association’s resources, capabilities, and benefits more visible and practical for its members.
Warner emphasized that the framework emerged from extensive engagement with NACDS members.
“The clearest voice in this strategic framework is yours,” Warner told attendees.
The strategy comes as the industry continues to push for changes to how pharmacy services are recognized and reimbursed. Anderson cited federal and state PBM reform efforts, the House Ways and Means Committee’s May approval of the Main Street Pharmacy Access Act, and work to establish payment pathways for pharmacist-provided care.
NACDS is also working through partnerships with Food Is Medicine, chronic disease, and test-and-treat services to demonstrate how pharmacies can play a greater role in the health care system.
“What one store does locally, NACDS does nationally,” Warner said. “What works in one state, NACDS helps scale across the country.”
Technology was another prominent theme in Boston. More than 50 AI-enabled exhibitors participated in TSE, marking the show’s largest AI presence to date and reflecting the growing role of the technology across pharmacy and retail operations.
At the same time, NACDS emphasized the development of the profession’s future workforce. The association brought the inaugural Emerging Leaders Academy class, comprising 49 pharmacy students and 20 pharmacy school deans, to TSE.
The issues highlighted in NACDS’s strategic framework were explored from additional perspectives during retailmediaIQ’s two executive discussions.
At a retailmediaIQ breakfast meeting on August 15, regional retail executives examined how their companies can compete effectively in a marketplace dominated by large national chains.
The session featured John Marraffa, president of Kinney Drugs; Angie Nelson, senior vice president of pharmacy at Hy-Vee; Mike Stigers, president of Wakefern; and Mike Wysong, chief executive officer of Care Pharmacies.
Jeffrey Woldt
Moderated by retailmediaIQ editor-in-chief Jeffrey Woldt, the discussion explored how regional retailers can use their intimate knowledge of the communities they serve, their ability to respond quickly to changes in consumer behavior, and their relationships with CPG companies as competitive advantages.
Later that day, retailmediaIQ’s annual Rx Roundtable brought together senior executives from the retail and supplier communities to examine critical issues confronting community pharmacy and its evolving role in health care delivery.
Also moderated by Woldt, the roundtable addressed efforts to expand pharmacy scope of practice, PBM reform and the impact of AI, among other challenges and opportunities facing the profession.
Jeffrey Woldt
Retail participants included Anderson; Tim Cernohous, president of community retail and LTC pharmacy at Cencora; Rick Gates, chief pharmacy officer at Walgreens; Crystal Lennartz, president of Health Mart and Health Mart Atlas; Colleen Lindholz, president of Kroger Health; Katie Scanlon, vice president of pharmacy at Publix; and Warner.
Representing the supplier community were Stephen Beckman, CEO of Yaral Pharma; Lari Harding, senior vice president of healthcare industry affairs and strategic partnerships at Inmar Intelligence; Todd Huseby, partner and leader of the healthcare sector at Kearney; Christopher Owens, director of national accounts at Embecta; Dain Rusk, CEO of Fillex; Purya Sarmadi, co-founder and CEO of MedMe Health; Brian Sullivan, principal, pharmacy solutions at KNAPP; and Tom Utech, CEO of iA.
The discussions underscored that many of the pressures facing pharmacy are interconnected. Expanding pharmacists’ clinical role increasingly depends on establishing sustainable reimbursement, while AI and automation are creating new opportunities to improve operations and allow pharmacy teams to devote more resources to patient care.
Another TSE session spotlighted women’s leadership across generations. Presented by WE, “Leading Through the Ages: How Women Rise, Adapt, and Lead Across a Lifetime” brought together women at different stages of their careers to explore how experience shapes confidence, ambition, opportunity, and personal identity.
Moderated by Karen Shadders, vice president of people strategy and development at The Emerson Group, the panel featured Rekha Rao, president of i-Health; Kaitlin Sickle, director of sales at Evermark; Karen Staniforth, founder and senior advisor at IBUBESI LLC; and Sarah Wilson, associate regional sales leader at The Hershey Co. The discussion emphasized how leadership evolves throughout a career and how each stage can offer new opportunities for growth, resilience, and impact.
The focus on pharmacy’s future continued that evening, as more than 550 industry leaders and academic partners gathered for the NACDS Foundation’s 28th Annual Dinner.
The Foundation announced that fundraising for its 2026 cycle had surpassed $1.615 million. Proceeds support pharmacy research and education programs that advance public health, strengthen patient care and develop the next generation of pharmacists.
During the dinner, the Foundation presented its Pharmacy Leadership Award to Anderson, who serves as NACDS Foundation chair.
CDR
“I’m grateful to the NACDS Foundation for this recognition, though the credit truly belongs to this organization and everyone who powers its mission,” Anderson said. “The Foundation invests in the people and the science that make pharmacy stronger, awarding a record total of scholarships this year and supporting research that improves health outcomes nationwide. It has been an honor to help advance work that matters this much.”
NACDS Foundation president Dr. Christie Boutte said the organization’s investments in pharmacy education ultimately benefit the patients and communities that future pharmacists will serve.
“When we invest in a student today, we are also investing in the patients whose lives they will touch in the years ahead,” Boutte said. “Thanks to our supporters, we are shaping the future of pharmacy, empowering the next generation of pharmacists who will carry this profession forward and strengthen the health of communities for years to come.”
The TSE Business Program also featured a discussion with retired Gen. David Petraeus, former commander of U.S. Central Command and former CIA director, who is now a partner at KKR and chairman of the KKR Global Institute.
Taken together, the programming in Boston reflected an industry seeking to translate pharmacy’s accessibility and community presence into a broader role in health care while navigating reimbursement pressures, technological change and an evolving retail environment.
For NACDS, those challenges are now being incorporated into a strategy intended to define the association’s next chapter.
“We are at a defining moment,” Warner said. “The direction is clear: all in on members, all in on value, and all in on the industry’s future. Become the leader of tomorrow’s community pharmacy.”
The 2027 NACDS Total Store Expo will be held in San Diego, with the 29th Annual NACDS Foundation Dinner scheduled for August 14.
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