NACDS focuses on its value to business and value for society

NACDS president and CEO Steve Anderson

At the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Total Store Expo Business Program on Sunday, NACDS leaders talked about the ways that their NACDS engagement can shape their companies’ future, while helping to address issues affecting local communities, the nation and even the world.



“This is where we come together to do two things: to build relationships and, most importantly, to help Americans,” said Alex Gourlay, NACDS chairman and co-COO at Walgreens Boots Alliance.



Gourlay said NACDS is laser-focused on shifting dynamics in the political environment, retail and health care.



Picking up on themes he discussed at NACDS Annual Meeting in April, Gourlay described the work the association is doing to help the industry communicate the story of its shared value and how it benefits society, including a new survey to measure chain and supplier member corporate social responsibility efforts. “We are going to tell the story of chains more clearly, and we are going to echo the story of our supplier partners,” he said.



Complementing Gourlay’s remarks, NACDS president and CEO Steve Anderson then took the stage to talk about the association’s progress on the NACDS Future Value Targeting Initiative, first introduced at Annual Meeting. “In the marketplace of ideas, NACDS trades on our ability to develop public policy solutions,” Anderson said. “As part of Future Value Targeting, we position these solutions as the pharmacy ‘Access Agenda.’ It has three parts: defending pharmacy, advancing pharmacy and serving as a responsible partner on the toughest issues facing our nation.”



“I hope Alex and I will leave you with two main thoughts,” he said. “For one, NACDS provides great opportunities to advance your business. And, through NACDS, you are part of something even larger than any one company. Those are two really big ideas: value to the business, and value for society.”