Walgreens Boots Alliance Appoints Sebastian James as Senior Vice President and President and Managing Director of Boots

DEERFIELD, Ill.---Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA) today announced the appointment of Sebastian James as Senior Vice President and President and Managing Director of Boots. He also will be contributing to the Group with involvement in a number of key areas, joining the company in the summer of 2018 and taking up his new role at the beginning of the new fiscal year on 1 September. He will report to Alex Gourlay, Co-Chief Operating Officer for Walgreens Boots Alliance.

DEERFIELD, Ill.---Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA) today announced the appointment of Sebastian James as Senior Vice President and President and Managing Director of Boots. He also will be contributing to the Group with involvement in a number of key areas, joining the company in the summer of 2018 and taking up his new role at the beginning of the new fiscal year on 1 September. He will report to Alex Gourlay, Co-Chief Operating Officer for Walgreens Boots Alliance.

James joins from Dixons Carphone plc (LSE: DC), Europe's leading specialist electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company, employing over 42,000 people in nine countries, where he is currently Group Chief Executive since 2014, having been Chief Executive of Dixon Retail since 2012. Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer of Synergy Insurance Services and Silverscreen Holdings, having started his career in management consulting with The Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Company.

Elizabeth Fagan, who has led Boots since June 2016, will continue working with the Company and will take on the newly created role of Non-Executive Chairman of Boots in the new fiscal year.

Gourlay said: “We are delighted that Sebastian will join our Company at an equally exciting and challenging time for the retail environment in the UK and for the future development of Boots, a brand synonymous with pharmacy and care. We are sure his deep retail expertise will drive significant progress and innovation at Boots for the benefit all our stakeholders. I also want to warmly thank Elizabeth who has been leading the business very successfully for the last 18 months or so, and in her over 11 years with the Company has made an invaluable contribution. She will continue to do so in her next role.”

James said: “I am very excited to be joining Walgreens Boots Alliance at this time in its history, and to have been offered the privilege of leading Boots, surely one of the UK’s most iconic, venerable and trusted brands. At a time of unprecedented change in both the retail and healthcare markets, to build on the fantastic work that the team have done over the last few years, and to be a part of the next chapter for this great company is an extraordinary opportunity. I look forward to getting to know my new colleagues at both Boots and WBA in the next few months.”

Notes to Editors:

About Walgreens Boots Alliance

Walgreens Boots Alliance (Nasdaq: WBA) is the first global pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing enterprise. The company's heritage of trusted health care services through community pharmacy care and pharmaceutical wholesaling dates back more than 100 years.

Walgreens Boots Alliance is the largest retail pharmacy, health and daily living destination across the U.S. and Europe. Walgreens Boots Alliance and the companies in which it has equity method investments together have a presence in more than 25* countries and employ more than 385,000* people. The company is a global leader in pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing retail and, together with the companies in which it has equity method investments, has more than 13,200* stores in 11* countries as well as one of the largest global pharmaceutical wholesale and distribution networks, with more than 390* distribution centers delivering to more than 230,000** pharmacies, doctors, health centers and hospitals each year in more than 20* countries. In addition, Walgreens Boots Alliance is one of the world’s largest purchasers of prescription drugs and many other health and wellbeing products.

The company’s portfolio of retail and business brands includes Walgreens, Duane Reade, Boots and Alliance Healthcare, as well as increasingly global health and beauty product brands, such as No7, Soap & Glory, Liz Earle, Sleek MakeUP and Botanics.

The company ranks No. 1 in the Food and Drug Stores industry of Fortune magazine's 2017 list of the World's Most Admired Companies.

More company information is available at www.walgreensbootsalliance.com.

* As of 31 August 2017, using publicly available information for AmerisourceBergen.

** For 12 months ending 31 August 2017, using publicly available information for AmerisourceBergen

(WBA-GEN)

 

Contacts

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
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Gerald Gradwell and Ashish Kohli, +1 847 315 2922