We've got a new CEO. How's that working for Neighbourly Pharmacy?

I closed my last blog post stating that many colleagues saw at recent conferences were requesting an update about how my work life journey has changed from being “the boss” to working for @Neighbourly Pharmacy, especially with an American now at the helm.

Warning! I don’t want this to sound like a Neighbourly Pharmacy advertisement, but if it walks like a duck.…

As a reminder, I sold the Sandstone Pharmacies group that I led to Neighbourly in November 2021. No signs changed above the doors, there were no banner changes, and almost 100% of my staff moved over with me to our new employer, the exception being my accounting team, who were redundant to the team already in place at Neighbourly. Of course, in the normal course of business since the transaction there has been some staff turnover, just as virtually every owner has experienced in the current pharmacy market.

Obviously, I can’t predict what will happen to me, or my role in the future, but I remain comfortable with the purchaser chosen by the Sandstone Pharmacies board and investors as their partner in the sale process.

And here’s the bottom line for me. I’d venture that in most of the old Sandstone locations, the vast majority of our customers and patients could not tell you that the pharmacy ownership changed hands. By any measure, that is a successful transition for a purchaser. That success is due mainly to the hard work of staff at the pharmacies but would not have been possible if the purchaser pushed down too many customer-facing changes post transition.

As I’ve stated in previous blogs, the Neighbourly team welcomed me with open arms, even if it took many of them about six months to understand that I wasn’t just punching the clock until retirement. l felt I had tread left on my tires and I was ready to roll up my sleeves and support them wherever I could provide value. That still holds true today.

At the end of January, I got a new boss. Skip Bourdo was named as incoming CEO of Neighbourly Pharmacy. I had a great relationship with the previous CEO, Chris Gardner. Chris made my transition to an employee easy and allowed me the freedom to work on projects that I am passionate about. As soon as the press release went out about a new CEO, I started getting calls asking if I was concerned about an American coming in. I responded the same way to each inquiry. I haven’t met Skip yet and I’ll wait to form my own judgement based on what I see, not what I’m worried might happen in the future.

When I did meet Skip, he was very upfront about needing to rely on Chris, Rita Winn, Charles Beaver and me to help him learn about the Canadian pharmacy landscape. The most positive news to me was that he was beginning a search right away for a VP of Pharmacy who would lead pharmacy strategy and professional affairs. At the beginning of June, Neighbourly announced the appointment of Alicia Matthews-Kent as VP of Pharmacy and I’m super excited to start working with Alicia. She brings such a prestigious pedigree to Neighbourly.

Finally, in the last couple of weeks I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with Skip at the conferences I attended. Before, I stated I would wait to form my own judgement about Skip based on what I see. Well, what I saw over those few days made me feel that he fits right in on the north side of the 49^th parallel. He was personable, a good listener and not pretentious. Eh, welcome to Canada, Skip!