Editor’s note: This story is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available.
ARLINGTON, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has named CARE Pharmacies CEO Michael R. Wysong its next president and chief executive officer, placing a longtime pharmacy executive and former NACDS chairman at the helm as the association works to expand pharmacy’s role in healthcare and to strengthen the industry’s economic foundation.
Jeffrey Woldt
Wysong will become president and CEO on December 1, succeeding Steven C. Anderson, who will retire on December 31 after 20 years as NACDS’s leader. The association’s board elected Wysong following a competitive national search led by a board-level committee and the executive search firm Spencer Stuart.
Wysong brings more than three decades of healthcare and retail pharmacy experience to the role. He has served as CARE's CEO since 2010 and is well known within NACDS, having served as chairman from April 2023 to April 2024. He remains a member of the NACDS Board of Directors and Executive Committee.
“This is a defining moment for pharmacy; NACDS is ready to lead it, and Mike will hit the ground running,” said David B. Warner, NACDS chair and president and CEO of KPH Healthcare Services. “In electing Mike Wysong, the Board chose a leader who understands this industry and this moment from every angle, retailer and supplier, regional and national, public policy and practice.”
Wysong assumes the position as NACDS begins implementing a new member-driven strategic framework built around two imperatives: “Shape the Future of Pharmacy” and “Strengthen Member ROI.” Developed with input from retailer and supplier members, the framework focuses on innovation across care delivery, health and wellness, and sustainable economics.
“It is an honor to be entrusted with the leadership at NACDS, and I receive it with a deep sense of responsibility to our profession,” Wysong said. “We are at a pivotal moment in our industry. NACDS has led through every challenge our profession has faced since 1933, and that history of perseverance is what gives us the strength to navigate today’s uncertainty.”
Wysong said his new position will give him broader opportunities to pursue the priorities he has championed throughout his career.
“This new role gives me a broader platform to strengthen the economics of pharmacy, expand pharmacy’s role in patient care, and address the unsustainable cost of healthcare in our country,” he said.
As CEO of CARE for more than 16 years, Wysong has led the cooperative through substantial growth. NACDS said CARE now includes more than 200 locations across 27 states and Washington, D.C., with annual sales approaching $2 billion, placing it among the 20 largest pharmacy chains in the United States.
Chain Drug Review named CARE its Regional Drug Chain of the Year in 2021.
Thorvardur de Shong
“NACDS could not have made a better choice,” said David Pinto, co-founder and editorial director of retailmediaIQ, publisher of Chain Drug Review and MMR. “Mike Wysong has the knowledge, the experience and the judgment to lead the organization as it evolves to meet the challenges that lie ahead.”
Throughout his tenure at CARE, Wysong has been an active member of NACDS and has described the chain pharmacy industry as being at a pivotal moment.
“No profession has the same capability as pharmacy to transform our healthcare system,” he told Chain Drug Review last year. Despite political polarization, “pharmacy could play a really important role in terms of new models of care and reinstalling a collective pride across the healthcare system,” he said. “My hope is to play a bigger and broader role by representing that possibility at CARE Pharmacies. We want to show what could be done on a much, much larger level when you have providers come together and work in good faith.”
As NACDS chairman, Wysong made a point of meeting with chain executives at their home offices, from Publix Super Markets in central Florida to Discount Drug Mart in Ohio and Lewis Drug in Sioux Falls, S.D., in addition to addressing conferences and the association’s RxImpact Day gathering. In total, he visited more than 20 states and 30 cities, connecting with government officials, consumer groups, healthcare stakeholders, and his retail counterparts.
“One of the things that I learned on my visits was that there is really an interdependence between patients and providers, and communities and retailers, and it was really quite a gift to the spirit to see that,” he said at the time. “The other thing that I learned was that our association has a very strong identity and is really grounded in the responsibility to represent its members. There’s a faithfulness from the bottom of the association to the top to try to make sure it carries out the initiatives it thinks are important in terms of moving forward priorities on behalf of the member companies, and the other companies that are participants in and parties to the association.”
Reflecting on his chairmanship last year, Wysong said, “I look back at my chairmanship at NACDS with nothing but fondness. I learned a lot while I was out moving around. There is a real hunger for people to engage in new ways, to get together and look at what’s possible, not just what has been, but where there are areas for partnership.”
Being in touch with member pharmacies has also been crucial to Wysong’s approach at CARE.
“They’ll call and we’re quick to pick up the phone and talk to them and get a firsthand account of what the issue is,” he said. “We have so many great relationships across so many different verticals that problem resolution gets to be easier for us. We’ve got relationships in the places that we need, whether it be with a wholesaler, a third-party plan, or a preferred partner.”
The same high-touch approach applies to CARE’s recruitment of new members, which typically entails a visit by Wysong.
“I do a lot of the key customer development and relationship building. I love that,” he said. “It goes all the way back to my old days being a sales rep. When I graduated from VMI, I was a salesman, and I loved getting in the car and going visiting with all my customers. Today, technology has limited the need for travel, but given the opportunity, I would much rather sit in front of you and shake your hand and talk about resolving the issues you have. It’s why I try to go to all the industry conferences and show up at all the meetings. I think an in-person connection is hard to beat.”
Last year marked CARE’s 65th anniversary and another period of growth. The company’s top line increased 2.6% to $1.93 billion, driven by higher pharmacy volumes, enhanced clinical services, and strong partnerships with vendors and payers. CARE added 20 pharmacies during the year.
“We continued to grow and demonstrated resilience in an environment marked by reimbursement headwinds, continued PBM pressures and supply chain disruptions,” Wysong said. “This expansion not only broadened our reach but also strengthened our operating model, enabling us to deliver more personalized, high-touch care in underserved communities.”
Wysong has said showing up in person directly reflects how one feels about the people one shows up for.
“When you take the time to get on an airplane for a visit, I think it’s representative of the fact that you were willing to take your most valuable asset, which is your time, and invest it in the future of a customer.”
Wysong envisioned a career in the armed forces when he graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1993. But after Desert Storm ended, he chose a career in the drug distribution industry, rising through the corporate ranks in sales at Baxter Healthcare, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen. He also held a leadership role with Allegiance Healthcare.
“Every role I assumed prepared me for the next one,” he said. “They’ve all been good tours of duty.”
A key lesson from those roles was the importance of relationships and communication, which became especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just before the pandemic, Wysong chaired the February 2020 NACDS Regional Chain Conference, the last in-person event the association would hold for 30 months. A month later, the pandemic had transformed the economy, healthcare system and pharmacy operations.
“But CARE had the infrastructure, and we signed up pretty quickly to be a player, and we were able to deploy in the places that we needed to, pretty quickly,” Wysong said.
CARE participated in both state and federal COVID vaccination efforts, navigating the operational and logistical differences between the programs. The company’s involvement with both NACDS and the National Community Pharmacists Association was key to its ability to respond at both levels.
The pandemic also highlighted the need for flexible, customer-centered care and coordination. CARE pharmacies faced significant increases in demand and workflow pressures while meeting patients’ testing and vaccination needs.
“Pharmacy stepped up when we needed it most,” Wysong said.
He has continued to press policymakers to remember the industry’s performance during the pandemic. Last year, Wysong met Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz at the White House, where he discussed PBM reform and provider status for pharmacists in the context of the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again movement.
Much of CARE’s success has also stemmed from recognizing opportunities in specialty pharmacy and serving patients with complex needs.
“If you’re serving HIV patients in underserved communities, that is the quintessential example of being a community-based provider and a high-touch caregiver,” Wysong said. Sixteen years ago, he added, “was the beginning of the rise of specialty pharmacy, and I think we were smart enough to recognize that at that moment in time, and to embrace it.”
Wysong was 39 when he became CARE’s CEO in 2010, taking over an organization he said was struggling to be profitable. His focus on relationships helped turn the business around by 2012, when it had almost doubled in size and was named the sixth-fastest-growing retailer in the country by the National Retail Federation.
CARE would receive recognition as a fast-growing retailer multiple times over the following decade. The organization also made what proved to be a consequential decision to restructure from a franchise into a cooperative, making its members owners.
“Once you turn the corner and you have that pride, you have what I call ‘the swing,’” Wysong said. “You’ve got the swing, like you know things are headed in the right direction. You’re winning games, and that attracts other high performers who want to be a part of that. It’s collective pride, which people see when you’re out and about.”
That background now becomes particularly relevant as Wysong prepares to lead NACDS through challenges ranging from pharmacy reimbursement and PBM pressures to efforts to expand pharmacists’ role in patient care.
Anderson said Wysong is well positioned to take on those challenges and continue the association’s momentum.
“Mike Wysong is an exceptional choice, and he will do a great job leading NACDS,” Anderson said. “He brings energy, experience, and a genuine passion for this industry and the people it serves, and he has earned the trust of members and partners across the entire sector and beyond.”
Warner credited Anderson with creating the foundation Wysong will inherit.
“Over two decades, Steve Anderson created a sustainable infrastructure of progress at NACDS, advocacy strength, trusted partnerships, financial stability, and a world-class team,” Warner said. “That foundation is exactly why NACDS is so well positioned today. Mike will build on Steve’s legacy and carry it forward.”
For Wysong, the transition represents an opportunity to apply the relationship-driven philosophy that has shaped his career to the broader pharmacy industry.
“Throughout my career, I have worked to build relationships across pharmacies, suppliers, and the many partners and coalitions in healthcare, wellness, retailing, and beyond,” he said. “I have seen what we can accomplish when we move in a unified direction.”
“I am confident about the road ahead,” Wysong added. “There is no more important work in healthcare today.”
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