DEERFIELD, Ill. -- Walgreens has named Linda Filler as president of retail products and chief merchandising officer, effective January 1. She will be responsible for the vision, leadership, strategic direction and performance of all Walgreens merchandising activities.
Bryan Pugh, vice president of U.S. merchandising, program development and execution at Walgreens, left the company in October.
Most recently, Filler was president of Claire's Stores Inc., one of the world's leading specialty retailers of fashionable jewelry and accessories for young women, teens, tweens and girls. Claire's operates more than 3,000 stores in 17 countries throughout North America and Europe and also franchises nearly 450 stores in 30 countries.
Prior to Claire's, she was executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., where she also led the owned brand strategy. She also held executive vice president positions at Walmart and Kraft Foods Group Inc., and leadership positions of increasing responsibility at Hanes Brands in the Sara Lee Corp.
"Linda brings to Walgreens significant experience in merchandising, marketing and strategy in a variety of industries and will be a great addition to our leadership team and our retail products division," said Alex Gourlay, currently Walgreens president of customer experience and daily living, and president-elect of Walgreen Co.
"With her deep experience across a broad range of product lines and strong supplier relationships, Linda has the expertise to understand what our customers want and to innovate quickly to create an experience that drives loyalty and results. She brings considerable global experience as we anticipate closing Step 2 of our strategic partnership with Alliance Boots in the first quarter of calendar 2015, and I believe our team members will appreciate her natural, collaborative leadership style," he said.
Walgreens president and CEO Greg Wasson said, "Alex continues to build a very strong team, and with the addition of Linda, our retail products division will be well-positioned to join with Alliance Boots to deliver the unique combination of products and services that will set apart our future combined company."
As the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2014 sales of $76 billion, Walgreens operates 8,229 drugstores with a presence in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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