CVS Appoints David Joyner New President, CEO
David Joyner has taken over the top spot at CVS Health Corp., effective Oct. 17. Joyner replaces Karen Lynch, who the company said stepped down from her position in agreement with its board of directors.
In addition to Joyner taking over as president and CEO, current Chairman of the Board Roger Farah will now become the board’s executive chairman. Joyner, who has 37 years of health care and pharmacy benefit management experience, most recently served as EVP, CVS Health, and president, CVS Caremark.
“The board believes this is the right time to make a change, and we are confident that David is the right person to lead our company for the benefit of all stakeholders, including customers, employees, patients, and shareholders,” said Farah. “CVS Health is responsible for improving health for millions of people across the U.S., and our integrated businesses work together to deliver on our purpose and mission every day.”
Continued Farah: “To build on our position of strength, we believe David and his deep understanding of our integrated business can help us more directly address the challenges our industry faces, more rapidly advance the operational improvements our company requires, and fully realize the value we can uniquely create.”
Earlier this month, the company revealed that it will eliminate about 2,900 jobs in a bid to lower costs. The latest job cuts are on top of the approximately 5,000 or so layoffs revealed last year. In 2021, CVS Health said that it would shutter around 900 stores between 2022 and 2024.
“We’ve embarked on a multiyear initiative to deliver $2 billion in cost savings by reducing expenses and investing in technologies to enhance how we work,” a company representative noted in a statement cited by CNN. The latest round of layoffs accounts for less than 1% of CVS Health’s workforce.
The woes of CVS are indicative of the larger issues at play in the retail pharmacy segment. Earlier this week, Walgreens announced that it plans to close about 1,200 underperforming stores.
The company is taking action in the wake of sluggish sales, growing online competition and challenges in other aspects of its business. Walgreens’ “footprint optimization program” will include the shuttering of at least 500 stores in fiscal 2025, with that number being higher than the 300 stores it announced it would close during its last recap in June.
With its CVS Pharmacy subsidiary, Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Health has 300,000-plus colleagues – including more than 40,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses and nurse practitioners. The company is No. 5 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
