Five appointed to newly created positions

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. on Thursday named five executives to newly created leadership roles at the company.

Appointed were:

• Gunjan Bhow to global chief digital officer.
• Heather Dixon to global controller and chief accounting officer.
• Vineet Mehra to global chief marketing officer.
• Annie Murphy to global chief commercial officer.
• Colin Nelson to global chief supply chain officer.

As global chief digital officer, Bhow will be responsible for leading WBA’s global efforts to identify customer needs and to develop innovative solutions that can delight and improve the lives of tens of millions of customers across the world, the company said. Bhow brings more than 25 years of experience defining, developing and operating digital products and businesses to his new role. He previously served as senior vice president and general manager at Walt Disney Co., where he led initiatives across direct-to-consumer, subscription, commerce, data and loyalty. Before that he led digital businesses at Amazon, Microsoft and Plantronics.

In her post as global controller and chief accounting officer, Dixon will oversee WBA’s global controllership organization with a focus on financial accounting and reporting as well as supporting systems and controls. She brings to the company extensive experience in U.S. and global finance and in the health care and consumer goods sectors, according to the company. She comes to WBA from Aetna Inc., where she was most recently vice president, controller and chief accounting officer. Before that, she served as vice president and assistant controller at PepsiCo Inc. She was a vice president at American Express from 2005 to 2015 in roles of increasing responsibility, with a focus on technical accounting, financial reporting and project delivery. Dixon began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she worked from 1995 to 2005 as a member of the audit practice in the U.S. and the global capital markets group in the UK.

As global chief marketing officer, Mehra will be responsible for all of WBA’s marketing activities across the global enterprise. Prior to WBA, he was global CMO at Ancestry.com, the world’s largest consumer genomics and genealogy company, where he led worldwide direct to consumer marketing programs and subscription revenue model efforts. Before that, he was global president for Johnson & Johnson’s baby care division and was also global president of marketing services. He has also held top marketing positions at Avon, Novartis Consumer Health and Procter & Gamble.

Murphy will serve as global chief commercial officer. She will lead WBA’s portfolio of product brands, as well as all commercial and third-party relationships. Murphy was previously senior vice president and chief customer officer at WBA. She has been with WBA for eight years and before that she was managing director of the Birds Eye foods business. She has also held senior commercial leadership roles at Procter & Gamble Co., PepsiCo and Tesco.

Nelson will lead WBA’s global supply chain, and in that role he will be responsible for improving efficiencies and building on the company’s current network in a bid to enhance customer satisfaction as the company continues to build its digital presence. He previously led industrial operations at Bunge, a global agri-food company headquartered in the U.S. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president, global supply chain, consumer health division at GlaxoSmithKline. He has also held top global supply chain positions at Firmenich and Unilever.