DEERFIELD, Ill. — Richard Ashworth, corporate operations vice president for the western United States at Walgreen Co., has been appointed director of health care, health and beauty for the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland at Alliance Boots.
Walgreens said Tuesday that in the new position, Ashworth will report to Simon Roberts, managing director of health and beauty for the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland at Alliance Boots.
In the role, Ashworth will work closely with the teams in both countries to lead the development and delivery of the health care strategy for Boots, according to Walgreens.
"Richard’s two decades of health care experience, leadership and service to Walgreens in a variety of roles has been invaluable to our company as we continued to develop our strategy to transform community pharmacy," Greg Wasson, president and chief executive officer of Walgreens, said in a statement. "His move to Alliance Boots represents yet another step forward and is further testament to the strong and steady progress we are making in advancing our strategic partnership."
A pharmacist, Ashworth has served as Walgreens’ western U.S. corporate operations vice president since 2011, overseeing more than 2,000 locations and having responsibility for responsible for the overall development and growth of all drug stores and health points of care.
Ashworth joined Walgreens in 1992 as a service clerk and has held various store operations leadership positions, ranging from pharmacy supervisor to market vice president. He was promoted in 2007 to executive vice president of pharmacy benefit management services for Walgreens Health Initiatives, a former subsidiary of Walgreens. In that role, he led sales and client services, clinical services and health outcomes, provider relations and the operating teams. In 2010, he was promoted to vice president of pharmacy operations, overseeing the clinical, operational and overall development of Walgreens pharmacies nationwide and the deployment of pharmacy technology and services.
"We are very pleased to welcome Richard to our group. His appointment further illustrates the progress we continue to make towards achieving our vision for the creation of the first global health and well-being enterprise," stated Stefano Pessina, executive chairman of Alliance Boots. "As he familiarizes himself with the U.K. and Irish markets, Richard’s experience at Walgreens will bring positive benefits to Boots and the delivery of its health care plans, as well as help further combine best practices of our two companies."
The move of Ashworth to Boots continues key personnel moves by Walgreens and Alliance Boots as they integrate the two organizations following the strategic partnership announced in June 2012 and the Switzerland-based joint venture, Walgreens Boots Alliance Development GmbH, formed that fall.
In August, the companies announced that Alex Gourlay, CEO of Alliance Boots’ health and beauty division, would become a Walgreens executive vice president and its president of customer experience and daily living effective Oct. 1. And then in the early part of October, Gourlay unveiled adjustments to marketing and merchandising duties in fine-tuning Walgreens’ daily living team. Those moves included positioning three senior merchants as general merchandise managers (GMMs) and enlisting five additional merchants for the daily living operation.
To help drive its global strategy Walgreens reconfigured its management in September 2012, with executive vice president and chief financial officer Wade Miquelon getting the additional role as president of international. In addition, chief strategy officer Robert Zimmerman was named senior vice president of international and international chief administration officer, and Brad Fluegel was hired as senior vice president and chief strategy officer.
