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Update 11.16 PM EST: Adds information from press release
Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) has named former Cigna (CI) executive Tim Wentworth as its new chief executive, effective October 23, the pharmacy chain announced late Tuesday.
Wentworth, the former CEO of pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts before its acquisition by Cigna (CI) in 2018, was appointed to lead CI’s Evernorth health services arm.
He said that his knowledge of the business needs of healthcare stakeholders, such as insurers, would help him lead Walgreens (WBA), the second-largest pharmacy chain in the U.S.
“The PBMs have forced the retailers to continually up their games on service and value, and my belief is that there is a great deal more we can do to continue to be a partner of choice,” Wentworth said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
“I understand intimately the challenges that payers face, having been one of the largest providers to payers, and have aligned entire organizations to be responsive to and innovative for payers in ways that created value for them.”
Wentworth’s appointment comes more than a month after the abrupt departure of WBA’s former CEO, Rosalind Brewer.