NACDS Elects 2022-23 Officers
At the National Association of Chain Drug Stores' (NACDS) Annual Meeting, in Palm Beach, Fla., the trade organization elected new officers, two new executive committee members and three board of directors members for the coming year. NACDS also re-elected nine board members whose terms were set to expire.
Brian Nightengale, president of Conshohocken, Pa.-based Good Neighbor Pharmacy, a cooperative network of independently owned and operated pharmacies, is the new chair of the NACDS board, succeeding Colleen Lindholz, president, Kroger Health at The Kroger Co., who completed her term but will remain on the board.
Further, Andre Persaud, EVP and chief retail officer of Rite Aid Corp., was elected NACDS vice chair, and Mike Wysong, CEO of Linthicum, Md.-based CARE Pharmacies Cooperative Inc., was elected NACDS treasurer. Each officer will serve a one-year term. Persaud and Wysong were also newly elected to the NACDS executive committee.
“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,” noted Steven C. Anderson, president and CEO of Arlington, Va.-based NACDS, which represents traditional drug stores, supermarkets and mass merchants with pharmacies. “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.”
The three new NACDS board members elected were Persaud; Dain Rusk, VP, Pharmacy at Publix Super Markets Inc.; and Karen Staniforth, chief pharmacy officer at Rite Aid. The nine NACDS board members re-elected to three-year terms were Randy Edeker, chairman and CEO at Hy-Vee Inc.; Mark Griffin, president and CEO at Lewis Drug Inc.; Kirk Kaminsky, president, pharmaceutical solutions and services at McKesson, representing Health Mart; Chris Lane, EVP, Wakefern Food Corp./ShopRite; Lindholz; Bob Narveson, president and CEO at Thrifty White Pharmacy; Martin Otto, COO at H-E-B; Sharon Sternheim, president and CEO at Zitomer/Thriftway Drug Corp.; and Debbie Weitzman, president, pharmaceutical distribution at Cardinal Health, representing Medicine Shoppe.
Additionally, Alex Gourlay, former co-COO of Walgreen Boots Alliance Inc., was elected to the NACDS honorary board. Gourlay was NACDS chair from April 2017 to April 2018.
Serving 60 million households annually nationwide through a digital shopping experience, and almost 2,800 retail food stores under a variety of banner names, Cincinnati-based Kroger is No. 3 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens is No. 5; Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix is No. 11; San Antonio-based H-E-B is No. 13; Camp Hill, Pa.-based Rite Aid is No. 19; Keabsey, N.J.-based Wakefern is No. 23; and West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee is No. 34 on PG’s list.
