Walgreens Boots Alliance has named a new global chief financial officer as the industry continues to evolve.
Takeda Pharmaceuticals CFO James Kehoe will replace Walgreens’ George Fairweather, who has been in the role since 2015 and will become a senior advisor to CEO Stefano Pessina for business development and finance. Both changes are effective June 1.
Before joining Takeda in 2016, Kehoe spent years in consumer goods, including at Kraft Foods Group and Mondelez. Fairweather played a key role in merging and integrating Walgreens and Boots Alliance.
“We are excited to have another world-class chief financial officer join Walgreens BootsAlliance and the senior management team to follow George,” Pessina said in a statement. “James’s extensive experience in finance in the pharma-related health care and consumer goods sectors, as well as helping ensure optimal business performance, will be instrumental as we move to the next phase of our long-term strategy for growth and value creation.”
The shuffle at Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens comes as the health-care industry contracts.
Health insurer Cigna announced Thursday it plans to acquire pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts in a $67 billion deal. Walgreens rival CVS Health said in December it would acquire health insurer Aetna for around $69 billion.
Walgreens was reportedly considering scooping up the rest of wholesale drug distributor AmerisourceBergen it didn’t already own before talks cooled. Walgreens is buying a chunk of Rite Aid stores after regulatory concerns derailed an outright acquisition.
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