Stefano Pessina

About Stefano Pessina

Stefano Pessina is the executive chairman of drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance, which Sycamore Partners acquired in 2025 for nearly $10 billion.

He's still a substantial shareholder of the company, which went private and delisted from the Nasdaq as part of the deal.

Pessina's journey began in 1977, when he took over his family's pharmaceutical wholesaler, ultimately renamed Alliance Santé, in Naples, Italy.

He eventually expanded beyond Italy, merging his wholesaler with UniChem Group in 1997 and Boots Group in 2006.

A year later, Pessina took Alliance Boots private in a reported $22 billion deal with private equity firm KKR.

Between 2012 and 2014, Walgreens bought 100% of his pharmacy chain, creating Walgreens Boots Alliance.