Rosalind G. Brewer, also known as "Roz", is an American businesswoman serving as the CEO of

Walgreens Boots Alliance Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. is an American-British-Swiss holding company headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois that owns the retail pharmacy chains Walgreens and Boots, as well as several pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution companie ...

. With her appointment at Walgreens in March 2021, she is one of only two Black women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies (along with

Thasunda Duckett Thasunda Brown Duckett (born July 22, 1973) is an American businesswoman who serves as the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of TIAA. She is also a former CEO of Chase Consumer Banking, a division of JP Morgan, and a member of the board ...

). Brewer is the first African American woman to become CEO of

, group president and COO of Starbucks, and CEO of

Sam's Club Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's C ...

. She has also held various leadership positions at

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

and Kimberly-Clark. ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

'' referred to her as "one of corporate America's most prominent women and black female executives." Brewer has been noted a "Highly Powerful Woman" by both ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' and '' Fortune'' magazines.

Early life and education

Rosalind Brewer was born in 1962 in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, the youngest of five children; they were the first generation in her family to attend college. Due to her inclination for math and science, Brewer was interested in pursuing a career as a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. In 1980, upon graduating from

Cass Technical High School Cass Technical High School (simply referred to as Cass Tech) is a public high school in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, United States.

in Detroit, Brewer enrolled at

Spelman College Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman rece ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

where she completed her bachelor's degree in chemistry. After completing her undergraduate studies, she decided not to pursue a career in medicine and began working at Kimberly-Clark as a research technician. Brewer also graduated from the Director’s College at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

Booth School of Business The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth or Booth) is the graduate business school of the University of Chicago. Founded in 1898, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and is associated with 10 N ...

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

and the Advanced Management Program from The

Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private Ivy League rese ...

Career

Brewer has held executive positions at Kimberly-Clark,

, Starbucks, and

. Additionally, Brewer was made the only African American member of the board of directors at Amazon in 2019. She also served as a member on the Board of Directors at Lockheed Martin and

Molson Coors Brewing Company The Molson Coors Beverage Company is an American-Canadian multinational drink and brewing company incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law and headquartered in Golden, Colorado and Montreal, Quebec. Molson Coors was formed in 2005 t ...

. Brewer continues to serve as a member on the Board of Trustees for Westminster School, the Board of Councilors for the Carter Presidential Center, and serves as the Board of Trustees Chair at Spelman College.

Kimberly-Clark (1984-2006)

In 1984, after graduating from

, Brewer began her career as a research technician at Kimberly-Clark, a global paper-based product company, till 1988. From 1988 to 1998, she held numerous leadership roles including: market manager, director for Skincare, and vice president for nonwovens. From 1998 and 2006, Brewer served as the president for manufacturing and operations and the global president at Kimberly-Clark. Brewer had a 22 year career at

Kimberly-Clark Corporation Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American multinational personal care corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. The company manufactures sanitary paper products and surgical & medical instruments. Kimberly-Clark brand n ...

Walmart and Sam's Club (2006-2017)

Brewer's career with

began in 2006. Brewer served as the vice president, senior vice president, executive vice president for southeastern operations, and executive vice president for the eastern business unit at Walmart stores. Brewer started her position as regional vice president of operations in Georgia. Following her work as the regional vice president of Operations in Georgia, she became the division president of Walmart's southeast market, and finally the president of Walmart East. In 2012, Brewer left Walmart and became the president and CEO of

, the membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart. She focused on health and wellness by doubling the number of organic products offered at Sam's Clubs. As CEO of

Sam’s Club Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's C ...

, Brewer became the first African American to lead a Walmart division. She retired from her role at Sam’s Club in 2017.

Starbucks (2017-2021)

On 1 February 2017, Brewer was nominated for the Starbucks board of directors. On 6 September 2017 was named COO and group president. Brewer was the second-highest-ranking executive at Starbucks after CEO Kevin Johnson and the first African American and the first woman to become the COO and group president of Starbucks. She led businesses and operations in the United States, Canada, and Latin America.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (2021-present)

On 15 March 2021, Rosalind Brewer was appointed as the CEO of

. Brewer became the only current African American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company.

Board of directors memberships

Brewer served as a member of the board of directors at

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

from 2019 to 2021. She was also a director of Lockheed Martin from 2011 to 2017 and

from 2006 to 2011.

Honors

In 2020, Fortune ranked Brewer the 27th Most Powerful Woman in the World and

ranked her 48th in their Worlds 100 Most Powerful Woman. On 15 September 2015, '' Fortune'' included Brewer in its Most Powerful Woman rankings. ''

Working Mother ''Working Mother'' was a magazine for working mothers launched in 1979 by Founding Publisher Milton Lieberman, who was succeeded by Carol Evans . The founding editor of the magazine was Vivian Cadden, who retired as editor in 1990. Subsequent edi ...

'' named her one of the Most Powerful Working Moms of 2013. In 2017, Brewer received the Spelman College Legacy of Leadership award. Brewer was selected for the inaugural 2021 ''

'' 50 Over 50 list of entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists and creators who are over the age of 50. Brewer was named as one of ''

s Women of the Year in 2022, which recognizes women who have made a significant impact.

Personal life

Brewer is married to John Brewer, and they have two children.

Advocacy for diversity and inclusion

2015

In 2015, as CEO of

, Brewer was interviewed on

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

Poppy Harlow Poppy Harlow (born Katharine Julia Harlow; May 2, 1982) is an American journalist, best known for her reporting at CNN and Forbes.com. She is an anchor of CNN This Morning and is based at CNN's New York news bureau. She was previously co-anchor o ...

. During the interview, Brewer explained that diversity was a priority for her. When speaking about the topic, she said, "I demand it of my team" and that, "Every now and then you have to nudge your partners. You have to speak up and speak out. And I try to use my platform for that. I try to set an example." Brewer described a specific incident when she was meeting with a supplier, and she recollected, "the entire other side of the table was all

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

male. That was interesting." Brewer chose not to address the lack of diversity when meeting with the group, but said she was "going to make a call" to the supplier. In response to her comments, Brewer faced repercussions, as many individuals on social media called her "racist." In support of Brewer's statement,

Doug McMillon Carl Douglas McMillon (born October 17, 1966) is an American businessman, and the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Walmart Inc. He sits on the retailer's board of directors. Having first joined the company as a summer associate ...

, Walmart's president and CEO, subsequently wrote in a statement, "For years, we've asked our suppliers to prioritize the talent and diversity of their sales teams calling on our company, Roz was simply trying to reiterate that we believe diverse and inclusive teams make for a stronger business. That's all there is to it and I support that important ideal."

2018

Shortly after becoming the COO and Group President of Starbucks, the company was met with nationwide protests and negative publicity because of the arrest of two black men at a

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

store location. In response, Brewer and her team implemented policy changes and instituted

racial bias Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

training for employees in 8,000 stores.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brewer, Rosalind Living people American women chief executives American women business executives American corporate directors Women corporate directors Spelman College alumni University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni Stanford Law School alumni Walmart people Starbucks people American retail chief executives African-American business executives 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen 1962 births Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni