Brings deep healthcare and extensive finance experience
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA) today announced the election of Robert L. (Robbie) Huffines to the company’s board of directors at its 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. He joins the board as an independent director and will serve on the board’s Finance and Technology Committee.
Huffines currently serves as Global Chairman of Investment Banking at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., where he has guided healthcare companies for more than 30 years on strategy, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and financing. He expects to retire from J.P. Morgan Chase early this year.
Huffines brings experience across many healthcare verticals, mergers and acquisitions and investment banking to the WBA board as the company continues to evolve its business strategy to become the leading independent partner of choice in healthcare services.
“I am pleased to welcome Robbie to the WBA Board of Directors,” said Stefano Pessina, executive chairman, Walgreens Boots Alliance. “His experience advising healthcare companies at one of the world’s largest financial services firms will be critical as we reshape our healthcare strategy to drive sustainable value for our shareholders, customers, communities and partners.”
“Robbie is a tremendous addition to our board of directors, and I look forward to working with him to advance and sharpen our healthcare focus,” said Tim Wentworth, CEO, Walgreens Boots Alliance. “His healthcare insights will be invaluable as we build out a more capital efficient health services strategy rooted in our retail pharmacy footprint.”
Huffines joined J.P. Morgan in 1991 in the Mergers and Acquisitions group, with a focus on the healthcare industry. From 2002 – 2010, he served as co-head of the company’s global healthcare investment banking group. In 2011, Huffines was promoted to Vice Chairman, and in 2017, he was named Co-Chair of the Global Strategic Advisory Council and joined the Global Banking management team. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, he worked at Alex Brown & Sons, specializing in equity financing and advisory assignments for emerging growth companies.
Huffines also currently serves on the boards of directors of Nextech Invest and Eikon Therapeutics. He has served on the board of Hastings Center for Biomedical Ethics since 2020, the board of visitors of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 2019, and the board of trustees of the University of Virginia Darden School of Business since 2018.
He and his wife, Lisa Huffines, recently founded The Forest Group, Inc., a not-for-profit organization focused on improving the mental health of children in underserved communities.
Huffines earned his M.B.A. from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, where he received the Faculty Award for academic excellence. He pursued his baccalaureate education at the University of North Carolina, where he majored in English and Economics.
“I am honored to join the WBA Board of Directors and to help shape the future of healthcare with a trusted brand that has served communities for more than 170 years,” Huffines said. “As WBA focuses on capital light investment models, I look forward to helping them leverage their talent, existing footprint and the trust of millions of patients and customers to further expand into the fast-growing areas of healthcare.”
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 12,500 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 employs more than 330,000 people and has a presence in eight countries through its portfolio of consumer brands: Walgreens, Boots, Duane Reade, the No7 Beauty Company and Benavides in Mexico. 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: the Company is an index component of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) and was named to the 100 Best Corporate Citizens 2022.
More Company information is available at www.walgreensbootsalliance.com.
(WBA-GEN)
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Contacts
WBA Media Relations
Jim Cohn
jim.cohn@walgreens.com
