PHILADELPHIA — AmerisourceBergen Corp. president and chief executive officer of Steven Collis has taken the reins as chairman.

Collis takes over from Richard Gozon, who has retired. The planned succession, announced in November, transpired at the close of AmerisourceBergen’s annual shareholders meeting Thursday in Philadelphia.

Steven Collis

Collis has served as a director of the pharmaceutical distributor since May 2011 and as president and CEO since July 2011.

“On behalf of the entire board, I want to thank Dick for his many years of exemplary service to AmerisourceBergen,” Collis said in a statement. “I am honored to serve as chairman of the board of directors. With the support of the board, we will continue to drive stockholder value through our long-term strategic plans for sustainable growth and the disciplined deployment of capital.”

At the meeting, shareholders elected 10 directors to serve for a one-year term: Collis, Ornella Barra, Douglas Conant, D. Mark Durcan, Richard Gochnauer, Lon Greenberg, Jane Henney, Kathleen Hyle, Michael Long and Henry McGee.

All of the board members are independent directors except Collis and Ornella Barra, who is executive vice president of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) and president and chief executive of global wholesale and international retail at WBA, which is a strategic partner of AmerisourceBergen.

Henney, who chairs the governance and nominating committee, became lead independent director. She has served as a director since January 2002.

“I extend my sincere gratitude to Dick for the many contributions that he has made to the success of AmerisourceBergen and congratulate him on his retirement,” Henney commented. “We will seek to build on the sound practices that were instituted during his tenure, so that AmerisourceBergen continues to be a leader in corporate governance.”