Five grocery industry executives were among newly elected or re-elected members of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores board of directors at the NACDS Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Fla.
NACDS said Monday that, over the weekend, the board elected three new officers, two new Executive Committee members and three new board members for the coming year. The Arlington, Va.-based association also re-elected nine board members whose terms were set to expire.
Brian Nightengale, president of AmerisourceBergen’s Good Neighbor Pharmacy independent pharmacy network, has been elected chairman of the NACDS board of directors, succeeding Kroger Health President Colleen Lindholz of The Kroger Co., who completed her term and was re-elected to the NACDS board.
“Brian Nightengale has engaged vigorously as a member of the NACDS board of directors on issues at the heart of our pro-patient, pro-pharmacy agenda,” NACDS President and CEO Steve Anderson said in a statement. “Particularly on issues related to reimbursement, he has helped to shape consensus on complicated topics that are highly consequential to the entire NACDS membership. We look forward to his leadership as chair of NACDS.”
Andre Persaud, executive vice president and chief retail officer at Rite Aid, was elected vice chairman, the post previously held by Nightengale, and Mike Wysong, CEO of Care Pharmacies Cooperative, was elected treasurer, taking over from Lori Flees, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Walmart Health & Wellness.
Each officer will serve for one year, covering the 2022-23 term. Persaud and Wysong also were elected to the NACDS Executive Committee.
Bryan Nightengale of Good Neighbor Pharmacy (left) takes the reins as NACDS chairman, while Rite Aid’s Andre Persaud (right) becomes vice chairman.
Persaud, too, is one of the three new NACDS directors, joining new board members Dain Rusk, vice president of pharmacy at Publix Super Markets, and Karen Staniforth, chief pharmacy officer at Rite Aid, for the 2022-23 term.
Nine NACDS directors members were re-elected to three-year terms on the board. Besides Lindholz, they include Randy Edeker, chairman and CEO of Hy-Vee; Chris Lane, executive vice president at Wakefern Food Corp.; Martin Otto, chief operating officer at H-E-B; Bob Narveson, president and CEO of Thrifty White Pharmacy;
Mark Griffin, president and CEO of Lewis Drug; Sharon Sternheim, president and CEO of Zitomer/Thriftway Drug Corp.; Kirk Kaminsky, president of pharmaceutical solutions and services at McKesson (representing Health Mart); and Debbie Weitzman, president of pharmaceutical distribution at Cardinal Health (representing Medicine Shoppe).
NACDS added that Alex Gourlay, former co-chief operating officer of Walgreen Boots Alliance, was elected to the NACDS Honorary Board. Gourlay served as NACDS chairman from April 2017 to April 2018.
The NACDS Annual Meeting began on Saturday at The Breakers in Palm Beach and runs through April 26.