Walgreens Boots Alliance brings in Neal Sample as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer

Walgreens Boots Alliance has named Neal Sample as its new Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO).

Sample will report to CEO Tim Wentworth as a member of the Executive Committee and serve on the IT Governance Committee.

He has been working alongside WBA technology leaders over the course of the last month to assess and advance the company’s technology goals.

Moving forward, he will lead the strategy for WBA’s IT function and the implementation of its technology and digital innovation, with an emphasis on improving the digital experience for customers and patients.

Sample currently serves as Chairman of the Board at Wellfield Technologies., as well as the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis, Missouri.

He was previously the CIO at Northwestern Mutual. Prior to that, he served as Chief Operating Officer and CIO at Express Scripts.

He also held several roles within the Enterprise Growth Business at American Express including EVP, Chief Marketing Technologist, and CIO, before being named President.

Sample previously worked at eBay, Yahoo!. and RightOrder.

“I am excited to welcome Neal to our executive leadership team and confident that as our CIO he will help take our IT capabilities to the next level using his strong background and experience in formulating modernisation plans, implementing technology solutions, accelerating growth and redefining standards of execution excellence,” says Wentworth.

“He will be a key component to achieving our goals as we build on the company’s pharmacy strength and trusted brand to evolve healthcare delivery.”

“WBA has a powerful vision to be the leading partner in reimagining local healthcare and wellbeing for all. I am eager and excited to continue working alongside an incredibly talented and dedicated team to advance technology and digital innovation at WBA toward our goal to be the independent partner of choice in pharmacy and healthcare services,” says Sample.