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Walgreens Boots Alliance hires CFO from Takeda Pharmaceutical

Walgreens Boots Alliance Thursday announced the appointment of James Kehoe, recently chief financial officer and board director of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, as the company's executive vice president and global chief financial officer, effective June 1. He will be based at the company's headquarters in Deerfield.

Kehoe will succeed George Fairweather, who has served as Walgreens Boots Alliance global chief financial officer since February 2015. Fairweather has been instrumental in the formation of Walgreens Boots Alliance, the subsequent integration of the legacy companies, the new enterprise's major cost-transformation program and the establishment of the combined global financial organization.

Fairweather will become a senior adviser to Chief Executive Officer Stefano Pessina for business development and finance, also effective June 1.

Kehoe has been chief financial officer of Takeda Pharmaceutical since June 2016 and was based in Tokyo, reporting directly to the company's president and CEO. He was appointed to the Takeda Pharmaceutical board of directors in June 2017. Kehoe is an accomplished finance executive from the consumer goods sector and a strong business leader with a track record of driving operational business performance. He joined Takeda Pharmaceutical from Kraft Foods Group in the U.S., where he last held the role of executive vice president, chief financial officer. Prior to that, he held a number of finance-related positions over 25 years with assignments based in Ireland, Germany, Italy, U.S., Austria, Switzerland and Canada.

"We are pleased to welcome James Kehoe to lead the Walgreens Boots Alliance global finance operations as the company now moves into our exciting future as a global leader in health and well-being," said Jim Skinner, Walgreens Boots Alliance executive chairman. "His significant leadership experience in both health care and consumer goods makes him an exceptional fit and addition to Stefano Pessina's senior executive team and the company.

"On behalf of the board, I also wish to thank George Fairweather for his steady and skilled leadership as he played a central role in the successful merger and integration of Walgreens Boots Alliance, and in building our global financial group," Skinner said. "We are pleased that George will continue to serve the company by providing his experience and expertise as a senior adviser to Stefano."

Pessina said, "We are excited to have another world-class chief financial officer join Walgreens Boots Alliance and the senior management team to follow George. James's extensive experience in finance in the pharma-related health care and consumer goods sectors, as well as helping ensure optimal business performance, will be instrumental as we move to the next phase of our long-term strategy for growth and value creation.

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