Italian pharmaceutical magnate and chairman of Walgreens Boots Alliance. He moved to Monaco decades ago and has relinquished his Italian citizenship for Monégasque. Stefano Pessina is an Italian-Monegasque billionaire businessman and the largest shareholder of Walgreen Boots Alliance. He is worth $ 10.3 billion.
He is a graduate of the Milan Polytechnic where he obtained his degree in nuclear engineering. In 1970, he joined the family business specialising in the distribution of pharmaceutical products. He restructured and developed the company.
I restructured the company and acquired several Italian pharmaceutical distributors to create the largest distributor on the peninsula.
His activities will expand in Europe from 1988 where he made 1500 acquisitions allowing him to create the Alliance Santé group. Its slogan is “helping people to be well and feel good”.
In 1997, his group merged with the British company UniChem and then with Boots. This gave rise to Alliance Boots. It also moved closer to the American Walgreens in 2012.
He has been married to Ornella Barra since 1985; she is co-director of the Walgreens Boots Alliance. Pessina was previously divorced and has two adult children.
In 2017, Stefano won the Golden Plate Award, presented by the American Academy of Achievement.
