I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to work alongside some great individuals and receive mentorship from some of the Food and Drug industry icons. My career with Osco Drug started in Indianapolis at store #775 at the corner of Washington Street and Sherman Drive.
As a staff pharmacist, there was much to learn. While in Indianapolis I was exposed to several facets of the company; training, recruiting, field operations and several “Special Projects / Opportunities”. The acquisition of several Reliable Drug Stores broadened my experiences and provided a view into the other facets of the company.
The next step on my journey was to Chicago to develop my soft skills. I had the opportunity to serve the company in both an East Regional Trainer role (Boston to Las Vegas….not sure who was defining the “East” at that time but I ran with it!) as well as the Manager of Education. After my soft skills were enhanced it was back into an operations role. I had the pleasure of being a Regional Pharmacy Manager (RPM) for Districts 1, 2, and 7 in Chicagoland then asked to move back into the Eastern Region of the Drug Division as the RPM for Indiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas (once again I was perplexed on how the territories were defined).
The next opportunity took me into the systems and process redesign area of our business. What a fantastic time to be in a support role. I was part of an incredible team that developed new functionality, converted the Albertsons pharmacy systems and developed a proprietary state of the art dispensing system. As my journey continued, my next opportunity was to broaden my responsibilities beyond the systems and process redesign areas into the managed care and procurement areas of our business as well. This phase took us to sunny Scottsdale AZ. In 2006, the transaction between Albertsons, Supervalu, and CVS provided me with an opportunity to have one of the most interesting roles. My charge was to ensure that everyone in the transaction received what they were entitled to…nothing more; nothing less. Once that role completed, I was honored to ask to lead the new enterprise Supervalu Pharmacy team. In 2012, I was asked to add the responsibility of non-food merchandising to my pharmacy leadership responsibilities.
This last role on the Supervalu team was very rewarding as it allowed me to be part of a great team and returned me back to the Drug Store categories that ignited my passions to join the Osco Drug team in the first place.
As the transaction between Supervalu and Cerberus drew closer, I could feel that it was time for another stop on my journey. One of my personal goals is to continually expand my “sphere of influence”…. each stop on my journey allowed me to interact with a broader set of individuals and I aspired to add value to each interaction. When I was approached by the McKesson team and asked to join them in a newly created position on the corporate McKesson team assessing new opportunities in the global pharmaceutical supply chain, adjacent Healthcare markets & opportunities, pharmaceutical manufacturer opportunities & relationships and generally informing company strategy vis-a-vis healthcare reform and market evolution, I knew that this role would fulfill both my personal and professional goals. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to be part of a great team and forever indebted to those of you who have taken the time to be part of my development.
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