Appoints New Board Member and CIO with Deep
IT Expertise in Healthcare and Retail, and Forms Finance and
Technology Committee on Board
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA) today announced
that it is further strengthening its leadership to provide
exceptional experiences and services for patients and customers,
with world-class technology and innovation as the backbone.
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Inderpal Bhandari, Member of Walgreens
Boots Alliance's Board of Directors (Photo: Business Wire)
WBA has appointed Inderpal Bhandari to its board of directors
and Hsiao Wang as senior vice president and chief information
officer (CIO), bringing deep technology expertise in the healthcare
and retail sectors. The company’s board of directors has also
formed a finance and technology committee to give even greater
focus to this critical function.
“We are making tremendous progress on our strategic priorities,
including transforming and aligning our core business and building
our next growth engine with consumer-centric healthcare solutions.
With today’s announcements, we are entering our next phase of
execution and elevating our capabilities even further,” said Roz
Brewer, CEO, WBA.
“We want to welcome Inderpal to our board and Hsiao to our
Executive Leadership Team. They are both incredibly talented
leaders and technologists. Together with our board’s new finance
and technology committee, they will be instrumental to achieving
our goals and truly differentiating Walgreens Boots Alliance in how
we deliver the healthcare of the future.”
Inderpal Bhandari Joins WBA Board
Inderpal Bhandari has served as IBM’s global chief data officer
since 2015. In this position, Bhandari is responsible for the
company’s data strategy, which is critical to IBM’s hybrid cloud
and AI leadership. His core expertise is in transforming data into
business value and improving customer experiences by delivering
strategic and innovative capabilities that use analytic insights to
enable growth and productivity.
Over Bhandari’s four-decade career, he has developed an
extensive IT background, particularly in the healthcare sector, in
roles such as chief data officer at Cambia Health Solutions,
Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions. Bhandari holds three
advanced degrees: a Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Engineering
from Carnegie Mellon University, Master of Science in Computer
Engineering from University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Bachelor
of Technology in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Birla
Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.
He was named U.S. Chief Data Officer of the Year by the CDO Club
in 2017 and one of Corinium's Top 100 Innovators in Data and
Analytics in 2018, 2019 and 2020. In 2020, he was also appointed as
one of the Global Top 100 Data Visionaries by Truata.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the board of directors of Walgreens
Boots Alliance at an incredibly exciting time in its history. I
believe WBA is uniquely positioned to offer technology-enabled
healthcare solutions, which will ultimately help millions of people
focus on their health. Nothing could be more important than that
and I’m excited to work with this high-caliber and talented team to
address some of the most challenging healthcare issues of today,”
said Bhandari.
Board Forms Finance and Technology Committee
Effective immediately, the finance committee of Walgreens Boots
Alliance’s Board of Directors has been reconstituted as the finance
and technology committee, reflecting the importance and
significance of technology to achieving the company’s goals. As WBA
accelerates its healthcare platform and global infrastructure, the
committee will govern the strategic growth of its technology,
including major customer initiatives, emerging innovations and
significant trends.
Hsiao Wang Appointed CIO
Hsiao Wang will assume his new role on Sept. 26, and report to
Brewer as a member of the Executive Leadership Team. He will lead
the strategy for WBA’s IT function and the implementation of its
technology and digital innovation. He will focus on advancing WBA’s
technology platform to deliver on the company’s strategic
priorities, with an emphasis on its digital experience for
customers and patients, including technology-enabled healthcare
solutions for Walgreens and Walgreens Health.
Wang is an MIT-educated IT expert who specializes in the retail
sector. He joins WBA from The Michaels Company where, as executive
vice president and CIO, he oversaw product development, engineering
and operations for all technology functions. Prior to that, he
spent 16 years at Walmart in an array of roles with increasing
leadership responsibility in technology and IT, culminating in his
role as senior vice president and chief technology officer for
Sam’s Club.
At Sam’s Club, he established artificial intelligence, robotics,
image and speech recognition and mobile capabilities. He was
instrumental in developing the future of automation, used AI and
deep learning to accelerate operations to benefit the customer
experience and reduced the average technology product development
time from 12-18 months to four weeks.
Wang is a passionate advocate for the technology-driven consumer
experience, and has deep experience in innovating and building
strong, high-performing teams. He earned his Bachelor of Science
degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
“Joining a company with such strong consumer trust and a clear
vision to be the leading partner in reimagining local healthcare
and wellbeing for all is a tremendous opportunity. I am excited to
work with an outstanding team to lead the continued transformation
of technology and digital innovation at WBA, as well as unlock and
create consumer-centric healthcare solutions,” said Wang.
Wang succeeds Francesco Tinto, senior vice president and CIO,
WBA. Tinto’s many accomplishments during his three years at the
company include expediting its digital modernization by moving to
the Cloud, deploying SAP S/4 across all Walgreens stores and laying
the foundation for a world-class digital experience and customer
insights platform through expanded partnerships with Microsoft and
Adobe.
“We are very thankful to Francesco for accelerating our digital
transformation, which has been integral to our company’s success.
In many ways, he and his team have laid the groundwork that will
enable our company to excel even further in the future,” said
Brewer.
About Walgreens Boots Alliance
Walgreens Boots Alliance (Nasdaq: WBA) is an integrated
healthcare, pharmacy and retail leader serving millions of
customers and patients every day, with a 170-year heritage of
caring for communities.
A trusted, global innovator in retail pharmacy with
approximately 13,000 locations across the U.S., Europe and Latin
America, WBA plays a critical role in the healthcare ecosystem. The
company is reimagining local healthcare and well-being for all as
part of its purpose – to create more joyful lives through better
health. Through dispensing medicines, improving access to a wide
range of health services, providing high quality health and beauty
products, and offering anytime, anywhere convenience across its
digital platforms, WBA is shaping the future of healthcare.
WBA has more than 315,000 team members and a presence in nine
countries through its portfolio of consumer brands: Walgreens,
Boots, Duane Reade, the No7 Beauty Company, Benavides in Mexico and
Ahumada in Chile. Additionally, WBA has a portfolio of
healthcare-focused investments located in several countries,
including China and the U.S.
The company is proud of its contributions to healthy
communities, a healthy planet, an inclusive workplace and a
sustainable marketplace. WBA has been recognized for its commitment
to operating sustainably: it is an index component of the Dow Jones
Sustainability Indices (DJSI) and was named to the 100 Best
Corporate Citizens 2021.
More company information is available at www.walgreensbootsalliance.com.
(WBA-GEN)
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220908005378/en/
WBA Media Relations USA / Jim Cohn +1 224 813 9057
International +44 (0)20 7980 8585
WBA Investor Relations Tiffany Kanaga +1 847 315 2922
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