Rosalind Brewer: CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance
Rosalind G. Brewer (born 1962) is an American businesswoman currently serving as the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, an Anglo-Swiss-American holding company headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois that owns the retail pharmacy chains Walgreens and Boots. Brewer was announced as the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) and as a member of the Board of Directors in March 2021. The appointment makes her one of only two Black women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies (along with Thasunda Duckett). She is also the only Black woman chief executive of a S&P 500 company.
Early Childhood
Rosalind Brewer was born in Detroit, Michigan. She is the youngest of five children. Her parents did not attend college but prioritized educating Rosalind and her siblings. She and her siblings were the first-generation of their family to attend college, and her parents worked several jobs to afford them the opportunity. She played the violin and the piano growing up, as did her siblings.
The daughter of assembly line workers at GM, she was a first-generation college student who started her career as a chemist at Kimberly-Clark.
Education
She attended Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan. In 1980, she enrolled at Spelman College, a historically black school for women in Atlanta, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1984. She met her future husband, John Brewer, while she was at Spelman College; John was then a student at nearby Morehouse College. She attended the advanced management program at The Wharton School and graduated from Director’s College at the University Of Chicago School of Business/Stanford School Of Law.
After graduating in 1984, Brewer Brewer started her career as a research technician at Kimberly-Clark.
Career
Rosalind (Roz) Brewer joined Walgreens Boots Alliance as Chief Executive Officer in March 2021. She also is a Director on WBA’s Board. Brewer most recently served as Chief Operating Officer and Group President at Starbucks from October 2017 to January 2021. Prior to Starbucks, she served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sam’s Club, a membership-only retail warehouse club and division of Walmart, Inc., from February 2012 to February 2017. Ms. Brewer previously held several executive leadership positions with Walmart beginning in 2006.
In 2012, she was named CEO and president of Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart, becoming the first woman and the first African American ever to hold such a high-ranking position in the company.
Prior to joining Walmart, she served as President of the Global Nonwovens Division for Kimberly-Clark Corporation, a global health and hygiene products company, from 2004 to 2006, and held various management positions at Kimberly-Clark beginning in 1984.
- CEO, Walgreens Boots Alliance: Mar 2021 - Present
- COO and Group President, Starbucks Oct 2017 - Jan 2021
- President and CEO, Sam’s Club: Feb 2012 - Feb 2017
- President, Walmart East2006 - Jan 2012 ·
- President of Global Nonwovens Division at Kimberly: 1984 - 2006
In 2019, she also became the only Black woman to sit on Amazon’s board of directors.
Board
- Walgreens Boots Alliance
- VillageMD
- World Business Chicago
- Business Roundtable
- The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture.
- Board of Trustees for Spelman College (Chairperson)
- Former Board membership: Starbucks, Amazon, Lockheed Martin Corporation and Molson Coors Brewing Company
Accolades
- Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business (#6)
- Financial Time’s 25 most influential women of 2021
- Forbe’s most powerful woman in the world.
- 2021 Forbes 50 Over 50
- Spelman College Legacy of Leadership award
Personal Life
Brewer is married to John Brewer, and they have two children.
