My Journey and Commitment to Independent Pharmacy

Just over 90 days ago, I officially took over as President of Good Neighbor Pharmacy.  I have big shoes to fill from outgoing President, Dave Neu, who leaves behind a 34 year legacy with AmerisourceBergen and I have every intention of carrying on his commitment to continuously making improvements for the benefit of our customers. I look forward to the opportunity to lead Good Neighbor Pharmacy into an exciting future.

Last week, ThoughtSpot, the Good Neighbor Pharmacy tradeshow for independent pharmacy, provided an energizing and exciting launching pad for my new role.  I met so many great people and am looking forward to meeting many more great pharmacy customers. I know and understand that our community pharmacies are dealing with some very big issues, some of which threaten business economics, their ability to grow and their ability to care for patients.  As I immerse myself into this new role, it is important to me that I learn from as many independent pharmacists as possible, what they expect from Good Neighbor Pharmacy and what we can do better to help them care for patients and run a successful pharmacy business. 

The journey that brought me to lead the strategic direction of Good Neighbor Pharmacy, the market-leading, independent community pharmacy network, is driven by the desire to make a difference.  I graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy in 1990, but, my connectivity to independent pharmacy began well before that.  In fact, it was a family friend and local independent pharmacist who completely changed my career path.  I grew up in a very small farming community and always wanted to be a Veterinarian, but after 3 years of college, I became a bit apprehensive about the idea of working with cows and pigs 24/7.  So I reached out to Rick Hill, my family friend, who was a pharmacist at Scheffe’s Pharmacy in Enid, Oklahoma.  And after shadowing him for a day in the pharmacy and, what became a transforming dinner discussion, I changed my major the next week.  Over the next 10 years, I worked for three outstanding independent pharmacist mentors who taught me the importance of putting patients first, innovation, and an entrepreneurial spirit – each of which have fundamentally shaped my career.  

It is that entrepreneurial spirit that led me to AmerisourceBergen and now Good Neighbor Pharmacy.

After ten years of substantial growth, I had the opportunity to join AmerisourceBergen and I immediately recognized our shared values of customer and patient focus, entrepreneurship and a culture of innovation and collaboration. That was more than 20 years ago, and I haven’t looked back since. 

This new role with Good Neighbor Pharmacy has brought me back full circle to my roots in pharmacy. And I am truly committed to doing my part to make our customers’ relationship with AmerisourceBergen and Good Neighbor Pharmacy as rewarding as possible.    

I know that trust is not earned by a title or a position, it is earned by listening, by being honest, and delivering on your commitments. I am laser focused on earning that trust by working diligently with the team here at AmerisourceBergen to achieve our goals.  I am passionate about independent pharmacy and will work very hard to do what I can to help promote and grow independent pharmacy well into the future.