Rosalind Brewer’s career path
Rosalind Brewer was the first woman to become CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance. She has also served as Sam’s Club’s CEO and Starbucks‘ group president. Brewer appeared on USA Today’s list of outstanding female executives.
Born in Detroit in 1962, Rosalind and her five siblings were the first in their family to receive higher education. From an early age, she excelled in the exact sciences and planned to combine her life with medicine. Brewer defended a bachelor’s degree at college in Atlanta. Her major was chemistry, but Rosalind wanted to attend something other than medical school.
The start of Rosalind Brewer’s career
In 1984, instead of continuing her studies, she worked as a research technician at Kimberly-Clark. Thanks to her perseverance, Rosalind held various positions, and in 1998, she reached the position of production manager and later president.
Brewer spent more than 20 years with Kimberly-Clark. In 2006, she ended her career with the company and joined Walmart. She took on the role of regional director for the largest retail chain in the United States. A few years later, she became head of Walmart East.
Career development
The woman’s career at Walmart lasted until 2012, when Rosalind moved to Sam’s Club, a chain of retail clubs operated by Walmart. After becoming CEO, she changed the company’s strategy to focus on promising areas such as health and wellness products and organic goods.
In 2017, Rosalind joined the board of directors of the Starbucks chain, taking one of the executive positions. She didn’t stay long, though, and in 2021, she moved to Walgreens Boots Alliance as CEO. This made Brewer the first black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. Despite success in her new position, Rosalind stepped down as CEO in 2023.
Brewer’s other honours and achievements
Rosalind has served on the Board of Directors of Amazon Corporation in addition to her roles at the above companies. Brewer is regularly included in the ratings of authoritative publications for her achievements:
– in 2015, Fortune magazine named Rosalind as one of the most important women in business;
– she was honoured at her home university by being named an Outstanding Leader (2017);
– Brewer ranked 46th on Forbes’ 2020 World’s Most Influential Women list;
– she ranked high on the Forbes 50 Over 50 list, which celebrates successful businesspeople and leaders over 50 (2021).
In addition to her successful career, Rosalind has also excelled in her personal life. She is married with two children.
