DSN Women Leaders 2014: Kathleen Wilson-Thompson

What happens when you take two cultures, both customer-focused and willing to embrace change to better the business, and blend them together? That’s the big project on the desk of Kathleen WilsonThompson, Walgreens Boots Alliance’s designated EVP and global chief human resources officer, who will be working to bring “let’s feel good” to “the corner of Happy and Healthy.”

“As we move from a domestic to a global organization, … the cultural integration of a company after a major M&A is one of the most critical aspects of a deal,” she said. “To be charged with helping drive that initiative is an exciting privilege and honor.”

Walgreens has a set of cultural beliefs, including aligning work with others, building trust and being open, honest and respectful, Wilson-Thompson said. “I firmly believe these are critical to how we work, how we interact with the people we work with and the people we serve externally,” she said. “Being a people person in a people-oriented field like HR, I never forget that people are who we serve as an organization. Our team members deserve to be highly valued.”

While Wilson-Thompson got her start in law, she actually heard her calling to retail earlier in life. “At the age of 10, … I ran my own flower seed company,” she said. “And I got so successful, that I hired on a few other kids and paid them from my earnings.”

 Since 2010, Wilson-Thompson has managed Walgreens’ human resources function, which includes benefits and compensation, diversity and inclusion, shared services, recruitment, employee relations, learning development and talent management.

Wilson-Thompson is a board member on the Vulcan Materials Company Board of Directors and serves on the NAACP Special Contributions Fund Board of Trustees.

Among her many accomplishments, Black Enterprise magazine in 2009  named her as one of its “Top 100 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America.”

To view the full DSN Women Leaders 2014 report, click here.