Dive Brief:
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Sears Holdings Corp. announced Thursday that it has tapped Phil Keough as SVP and president of Kmart’s pharmacy division.
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Keough most recently served as CEO and president of Millennium Pharmacy Systems, a long-term care pharmacy provider, and led the sale of the company to long term-care pharmacy company PharMerica. He has also served in top positions at CVS Health and Rite Aid.
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He will be responsible for leading the Kmart Pharmacy unit and the online Shop Your Way health and wellness business.
Dive Insight:
The retail pharmacy business is shaking up these days as drugstores seize opportunities afforded by the Affordable Care Act, and Keough’s hire shows that Kmart Pharmacy is keen on capitalizing on that. While Sears Holdings Corp. is struggling mightily, with many writing off its future in retail, the company has been working hard on its Shop Your Way e-commerce business.
That may be paying off. Tenth Avenue Holdings portfolio manager Don Ingham told TheStreet Wednesday that Sears could begin to turn things around in a couple of years.
"Because they were in such a poor financial position, they started much earlier than other retailers to pivot toward e-commerce and to reduce their physical footprint substantially," Ingham told TheStreet TV.