Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer Is a Powerhouse, VP Harris' Sorority Sister

Since she graduated college and left her sorority in the 1980s, Rosalind "Roz" Brewer has been building her career in retail executive leadership. Going from an entry-level role at Kimberly-Clark to the chief operating officer at Starbucks wasn't the end of her trajectory. Now, as Walgreens CEO, Brewer is breaking glass ceilings for Black women and others who are marginalized in the workforce.

Here's Brewer's influence, explained—plus how much net worth she has amassed in her highly successful career.  

Alpha Kappa Alpha is the first intercollegiate historically Black sorority and it has been around since 1908. Vice President Kamala Harris was a member of AKA during her time at Howard University. Roz Brewer, too, joined while at Spelman College.

Other noteworthy Black women have ties to AKA. Author Toni Morrison was a member at Howard University. Honorary members include Coretta Scott King, Maya Angelou, and Ava Duvarney (an American filmmaker who created a documentary about the 13th amendment called "13th"). 

Brewer became COO of Starbucks in 2017, shortly after being nominated for the company's board of directors. She was second in line below CEO Kevin Johnson.

By 2019, Brewer became the only Black woman to serve on the board of Amazon.

In early 2021, Walgreens Boots Alliance announced that it was planning to appoint Brewer as the CEO. The move came into effect on March 15. This isn't her first CEO role—she was formerly CEO at Sam's Club—but this position is much more globally prominent.  

All of this success isn't in vain. Brewer has received numerous honors during her career. Most recently, Fortune ranked her the 27th most powerful woman in the world in 2020. That same year, Forbes placed her number 48 on the World's 100 Most Powerful Women list.

Walgreens (NASDAQ:WBA) investors seem to be hype over the news of Brewer's leadership. Shares for the company are up 30.56 percent YTD, with nearly 20 percent of that growth occurring in the four weeks surrounding her official appointment. 

While working at Starbucks, Brewer made an annual salary of about $8.02 million. This is less than CEO Johnson, who reportedly makes $14.7 million per year. 

In the 2019 annual Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) shareholders meeting, shareholders voted against executive compensation, which prevented Johnson from receiving an additional $50 million and Brewer from getting $10 million for their three-year retainment through 2022. This type of shareholder vote usually gets approved, so it's a highly interesting piece of the puzzle, especially since Brewer ultimately moved on to another position.

Brewer's current salary as Walgreens CEO has yet to be released. However, former Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina made nearly $17.5 million in 2020. 

Brewer is married to John Brewer and the couple have two children together.