Rosalind Brewer | CEO, Walgreens Boots Alliance

Rosalind Brewer

Inaugural Trailblazer Award Honoree

Rosalind (Roz) Brewer joined Walgreens Boots Alliance as Chief Executive Officer in March 2021. She also is a Director on WBA’s Board. Ms. Brewer most recently served as Chief Operating Officer and Group President at Starbucks from October 2017 to January 2021. Prior to Starbucks, she served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sam’s Club, a membership-only retail warehouse club and division of Walmart, Inc., from February 2012 to February 2017. Ms. Brewer previously held several executive leadership positions with Walmart beginning in 2006.

Prior to joining Walmart, she served as President of Global Nonwovens Division for Kimberly-Clark Corporation, a global health and hygiene products company, from 2004 to 2006, and held various management positions at Kimberly-Clark beginning in 1984.

She currently serves as the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees for Spelman College, where she did her undergraduate work. Ms. Brewer also is a Board Member of VillageMD, World Business Chicago, Business Roundtable and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture. Ms. Brewer formerly served on the Board of Directors for Starbucks, Amazon, Lockheed Martin Corporation and Molson Coors Brewing Company. She is currently ranked #6 on Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and was named one of the 25 most influential women by the Financial Times in 2021. 

Debra Lee

Inaugural Icon Award Honoree

Debra Lee serves as a Director on the Boards of Warner Bros. Discovery, Burberry Group plc, Marriott International and Procter & Gamble. Ms. Lee is the Chairman of Leading Women Defined Foundation (a Foundation of black female thought leaders), which she founded in 2009. Ms. Lee recently launched The Monarchs Collective, a venture created to put more people of color on corporate boards and in executive leadership positions. She is CEO of The Monarchs Collective. Ms. Lee served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BET Networks (a global media and entertainment subsidiary of Viacom, Inc.) from 2006 until her retirement in 2018. Ms. Lee joined BET Networks in 1986 and served in several leadership roles, including President and Chief Executive Officer (2005-2006), President and Chief Operating Officer (1995-2005), and Executive Vice President and General Counsel (1986-1995). 

She previously served as a director of AT&T, WGL Holdings, Inc., Twitter, Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, and Revlon, Inc. 

Ms. Lee holds a B.A. in political science from Brown University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a master’s in public policy from Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 2014, she was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D) from her alma mater, Brown University.