Ornella Barra

Ornella Barra is an Italianborn Monegasque businesswoman. A qualified pharmacist, she has been involved in the healthcare industry for her entire career, and is currently Executive Vice President of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. and President and Chief Executive of Global Wholesale and International Retail. Within Walgreens Boots Alliance, Ornella Barra oversees International Retail, which is part of the Retail Pharmacy International Division, as well as directing the Pharmaceutical Wholesale Division. She has been the partner of the Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina for overyears. Ornella was ranked 5th in Fortune Magazines 2015 most powerful women in business list for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Ornella Barra was born in December 1953 in Chiavari, Genoa, northwest Italy, into a family of entrepreneurs. Having graduated as a pharmacist from the University of Genoa in 1979, she worked at the start of her career as a manager of a pharmacy which she then acquired. After building up a successful regional pharmaceutical distribution company, Di Pharma, she later sold the business to Alleanza Farmaceutica, founded and managed by Italian entrepreneur Stefano Pessina, which later grew to become Italys leading pharmaceutical wholesaler. He and Barra became partners in both personally and professionally, sharing a house in Monaco.

Source: Wikipedia