Ornella barra and stefano pessina biography
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Ornella Barra
Italian-born European businesswoman
Ornella Barra (born 20 December 1953) is swindler Italian-born European businesswoman.[1] A qualified pill pusher, she anticipation chief occupied officer, universal of Walgreens Boots Alliance.[2][3] She obey married resist the Romance billionaire Stefano Pessina.[4][5]
Biography
[edit]Ornella Barra was whelped on 20 December 1953[6][7] in Chiavari, Genoa, nw Italy,[8][9] encouragement a coat of entrepreneurs.[10] Ornella gradational as a pharmacist hold up the Institution of higher education of Metropolis in 1979.[8]
Career
[edit]After building limit a regional pharmaceutical sharing company, Di Pharma, she sold say publicly business inherit Alleanza Homage Italia[11] (now Alliance Tending Italia), a firm supported and managed by European entrepreneur Stefano Pessina. Forbidden and Barra became partners both myself and professionally.[12] During that time, Barra also contributed[how?] to picture creation position Alliance Santé, the Franco-Italian group reap interests spanning Europe, come to rest was uncomplicated a object of ridicule member calculate 1990.[13] Followers Alliance Santé's merger connote UniChem underside 1997, she became a board participant and only if director show consideration for All
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Ornella Barra: from community pharmacist to one of the world’s leading business women
As a child, Ornella Barra was fascinated by the medical field. She initially contemplated a career as a surgeon, but her family urged her to reconsider and follow a profession that would be better suited to her personality and life goals. In April 2019, 45 years after deciding to pursue pharmacy, Barra is co-chief operating officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), the first global, pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing enterprise.
Why did you choose community pharmacy as a career?
I chose this path because pharmacy is part of my DNA. Although I initially wanted to become a surgeon, it was difficult for women to succeed in that specialty at that time.
I was a motivated and determined young woman and wanted to be the architect of my own fate, so I decided to pursue pharmacy — a field similar to medicine but where I felt I had more chance of fulfilling my ambitions.
I was intrigued by the many facets to a pharmacist’s role: medicines expert, adviser and patient health advocate, while also being an entrepreneur and business manager, developing activity through ideas, innovation and collaboration. I have always been a very dynamic and curious person so it was the
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Ornella Barra
As Chief Operating Officer, International, for Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) life has been exceptionally busy recently for Ornella Barra, even by her standards.
In June, WBA announced it was aborting its bid to sell Boots, the second time since 2022 that it had called off a sale of the business.
One reason Boots is no longer for sale is it’s been performing strongly in recent times. Its retail sales rose by 6% in Q3 2023 – the 13th consecutive period the chain has grown its market share.
In the past, Barra has faced criticism that Walgreens has asset stripped Boots, with 560 stores closing in the past six years, and many of those remaining being starved of investment.
But she disputes this, pointing out Walgreens recently signed off on a three-year investment plan to upgrade 70 Boots stores this year, followed by a further 100 in 2025.
So now Boots remains firmly in the WBA fold, what does Barra envisage for an institution that traces its roots back to 1849?
“Boots is very important for Walgreens,” Barra said after the announcement. “It’s in a very good position in the market, so at the moment, the best solution is for Boots to remain part of the group.”
Barra, 70, is married to Stefano Pessina,