WALGREENS BOOTS ALLIANCE INC Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (Nasdaq: WAG) today named Linda Filler as president of retail products and chief merchandising officer, effective Jan. 1.
Filler will be responsible for the vision, leadership, strategic direction and performance of all Walgreens merchandising activities. Most recently, Filler was president of Claire’s Stores, Inc., one of the world’s leading specialty retailers of fashionable jewelry and accessories for young women, teens, tweens and girls. Claire’s operates more than 3,000 stores in 17 countries throughout North America and Europe and also franchises nearly 450 stores in 30 countries primarily in the Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia and Central and South America.
Prior to Claire’s, she was executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., where she also led the owned brand strategy. She also held executive vice president positions at Walmart and Kraft Foods Group, Inc., and leadership positions of increasing responsibility at Hanes Brands in the Sara Lee Corporation.
“Linda brings to Walgreens significant experience in merchandising, marketing and strategy in a variety of industries and will be a great addition to our leadership team and our retail products division,” said Alex Gourlay, currently Walgreens president of customer experience and daily living, and president-elect of Walgreen Co. “With her deep experience across a broad range of product lines and strong supplier relationships, Linda has the expertise to understand what our customers want and to innovate quickly to create an experience that drives loyalty and results. She brings considerable global experience as we anticipate closing Step 2 of our strategic partnership with Alliance Boots in the first quarter of calendar 2015, and I believe our team members will appreciate her natural, collaborative leadership style.”
Walgreens President and CEO Greg Wasson said, “Alex continues to build a very strong team, and with the addition of Linda, our retail products division will be well-positioned to join with Alliance Boots to deliver the unique combination of products and services that will set apart our future combined company.”
Filler received both her bachelor of science degree and master of science degree in accounting in 1982 from North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) and her master of business administration from Harvard Business School in 1989.
About Walgreens
As the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2014 sales of $76 billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) vision is to be America’s most loved pharmacy-led health, wellbeing and beauty enterprise. Each day, in communities across America, more than 8 million customers interact with Walgreens using the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with online and mobile services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. The company operates 8,229 drugstores with a presence in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Walgreens digital business includes Walgreens.com, drugstore.com, Beauty.com, SkinStore.com and VisionDirect.com. Walgreens also manages more than 400 Healthcare Clinic and provider practice locations around the country.
