Buies Creek, N.C.— Mary F. Sammons, chairman of Rite Aid, will speak at the Campbell University College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences Convocation Ceremony at 11 a.m. on Thursday, August 26, 2010 at Turner Auditorium.
Sammons was named Chairman of Rite Aid Corporation in June, 2007. She led the company as CEO for the past seven years (June 2003 to June 2010), after joining Rite Aid as President and Chief Operating Officer in December 1999.
She came to Rite Aid as part of an executive turnaround team, and as President and Chief Operating Officer, was credited with improving operations, restarting the company’s new store development program, leading the design of its new Customer World store and significantly improving Rite Aid’s operating performance. Under her leadership as CEO, the company acquired the Brooks and Eckerd drugstore chains in 2007, making Rite Aid the largest drugstore chain on the East Coast and strengthening its position as the third largest national drugstore chain.
During her tenure, she created a new corporate culture at Rite Aid, emphasizing the critical role the pharmacy teams and other store associates play in the company’s success. As an example of Mary’s commitment to associates and the importance of pharmacy, she recently traveled cross country to meet with pharmacy teams from Rite Aid stores in every region. Her goal: to hear how Rite Aid could make their jobs easier and help them serve their patients.
Before joining Rite Aid, Sammons was President and Chief Executive Officer of Fred Meyer Stores, a 137-store food, drug and general merchandise retailer in the Pacific Northwest and a unit of Fred Meyer, Inc., which was bought by The Kroger Company in 1999. In 26 years at Fred Meyer, she held positions of increasing responsibility in all areas of operations and merchandising before becoming Chief Executive Officer there.
Sammons is a director of Stancorp Financial, a member of the Executive Committee of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the chain drugstore’s trade association, and President of the Rite Aid Foundation. She served as chairman of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores April 2003 to April 2005.
She has often been named one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” by Fortune Magazine, one of Forbes Magazine’s “100 Most Powerful Women” and a “Woman to Watch” by the Wall Street Journal.
Sammons is a native of Portland, Oregon. She graduated from Marylhurst College with a B.A. in French and a secondary level teaching certificate.
The Campbell University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences was established in 1986 as the first new school of pharmacy to open in the United States in 35 years. The school’s primary mission is to train clinical pharmacists in a Christian environment to meet existing and future health care needs and to guide students to become well adjusted, exemplary citizens and community leaders. The schoolis a member of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). Additional courses are taught at the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Department of Clinical Research located on Campbell University’s RTP campus.
Photo Copy: Rite Aid CEO Mary F. Sammons