SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Many of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ considerable strengths were on display at the organization’s Annual Meeting here last month. During the four-day event at the Phoenician resort, which brought together 2,250 executives from 400 companies representing the full spectrum of stakeholders in chain pharmacy, the deep involvement of members, the quality of the NACDS leadership, and the association’s ability to adapt and grow were much in evidence.

Alex Gourlay, co-chief operating officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., who succeeded H-E-B’s Martin Otto as NACDS chairman on the final day of the Annual Meeting, clearly stated the priorities that guide the organization. “The theme for today, and moving forward, is the customer — understanding the customer’s needs and meeting them,” he said. “The whole association of NACDS is going to be based on that theme moving forward, in meeting health care challenges … and in advancing the Future Value Targeting initiative.”

Developed under the aegis of Otto and NACDS president and chief executive officer Steve Anderson, Future Value Targeting is a strategic planning effort intended to find breakthrough solutions to challenges that benefit the association’s members in the retail and supplier communities, as well as its partners and society as a whole. “NACDS is intensely focused on doing the right things now to deliver return on investment for our members into the future,” Anderson noted. “We are focused on assessing this operating environment, and acting like a startup and like a think tank to do things in new ways to deliver for this amazing industry.”

The first projects to come under the Future Value Targeting umbrella were unveiled at the Annual Meeting. They include efforts to bring together diverse stakeholders to develop innovative health and wellness concepts; increased attention to corporate social responsibility; the propagation of the NACDS Access Agenda and the positioning of pharmacies as resources for policy makers; and a research program conducted by Morning Consult, which will track the level of support for pharmacy-related issues by state and congressional district.

One challenge NACDS is sure to address is how to make the U.S. health care system function better. In his remarks about community pharmacy and its place in health care, Gourlay, who was trained as a pharmacist and spent most of his career at the Boots drug chain in the United Kingdom before moving to Walgreens in 2013, said, “Here’s something that’s a bit more gritty, from my point of view. Coming from Scotland, I’ll always be straightforward, and coming from Europe, I can tell you this is an absolute fight. We have to improve efficiency in this marketplace.”

Gourlay’s interest in making the American health care and retail sectors more productive dovetails with the push by Otto, who is chief financial officer and chief marketing officer at H-E-B, to have NACDS step up its engagement on matters that go beyond the traditional concerns of community pharmacy. “It is vital to pursue a more sustainable approach to health care delivery in ways that will make it possible to also address pressing issues in education, poverty, nutrition and more,” he noted. “From the existing and new issues that NACDS is advancing, to the collaboration that we are pursuing with other stakeholders, NACDS continues to make tremendous progress to affirm and advance pharmacy’s leadership role on a host of critical issues.”

With the House of Representatives voting earlier this month to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the association’s increased involvement couldn’t come at a better time.

“Through the Future Value Targeting initiative, we are looking to lead the industry in a proactive and positive way, at a time when we have so much to offer,” said Gourlay.