Walgreens CEO is stepping down

Walgreens CEO Gregory Wasson is stepping down from his position before the end of the year, while the company is finalizing a merger with Switzerland-based Alliance Boots.

Stefano Pessina, executive chairman of Alliance Boots, will serve as acting CEO, while the board searches for a replacement for Wasson. Walgreens chairman James Skinner will become Walgreens Boots Alliance’s executive chairman once the merger is completed.

“When I became CEO six years, I had three goals – to transform the front end of Walgreens drugstores, to advance the role that community pharmacy plays in health care and to find the right partner to take Walgreens global,” Wasson said in media reports.

During Wasson’s tenure, Walgreens added roughly 1,600 stores, bringing the total store count up to more than 8,200 locations. Alliance Boots has approximately 4,600 stores.

Wasson plans to step down after the second step of the Alliance Boots deal. Shareholders are anticipated to vote on Dec. 29. Walgreens acquired just under half, 45 percent, of Alliance Boots in 2012 and announced last summer that Walgreens would buyer the rest of the Alliance Boots shares.