WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — National Association of Chain Drugs Stores chairman John Standley and president and chief executive officer Steve Anderson updated members on the association’s position in health care, retail, public policy and the political arena at the 2015 NACDS Annual Meeting here.

John Standley

“It’s been an honor to be your chairman over the past year. This has been a tremendous experience for me personally to take on such an important role at such an important time for our business. It’s also been a great year because we’ve made critical progress toward reaching our full potential as an industry,” Standley said in remarks Sunday morning during the business program.

Standley, who’s also chairman and CEO of Rite Aid Corp., described “five pillars of value” that reflect the efforts of NACDS and the NACDS Foundation: “strengthening our collaborative relationships; protecting patient access to our pharmacies; expanding patient access to health services; facilitating the cutting-edge research of the NACDS Foundation; and telling our story, especially to our elected officials.”

To that end, Standley noted the importance of the upcoming NACDS Total Store Expo in fostering collaboration among NACDS members and other industry segments. “It brings the right people together and helps them collaborate, innovate and succeed,” he said of the Expo, which will be held Aug. 22 to 25 in Denver.

Standley also referred to the need to focus on the entire store and work together with diverse suppliers.

“Our pharmacists are delivering more health services than ever before, and they can be empowered to do even more in the future,” he explained. “As this transformation takes place, our front-end business is evolving, too, with a greater emphasis on health and wellness, retail innovation and meaningful differentiation.”

Steve Anderson

Building on Standley’s remarks, Anderson pointed to the relationships that NACDS helps its members develop.

“I give great thought about why this meeting is so special, and why NACDS is such a special organization. This is no ordinary association, this is no ordinary meeting and you are no ordinary association members,” Anderson said.

“It all comes down to relationships: relationships between our chain and associate members; relationships between competitors who come together in the NACDS boardroom and committee meetings; the relationship between the NACDS members and decision-makers in federal and state government; the relationship between NACDS and the media, as we continue to communicate that our members are the face of neighborhood health care; and the relationship between our members and staff,” he noted.

The level of member engagement that NACDS fosters via meetings with government officials to spur pro-patient, pro-pharmacy policy also shows up through the industry’s collaboration at NACDS meetings and conferences, according to Anderson.

“NACDS has built its brand on meetings that leaders don’t want to miss, in government and in the industry alike. And we’ve built our brand on effectiveness — the effectiveness that never confuses action with results,” he said. “The power of these relationships has yielded results in areas that matter in the pharmacy and in the front end.”

In addition, Standley and Anderson acknowledged Brian McNamara, head of Europe and the Americas for GSK Consumer Healthcare, who supported and spoke at Sunday morning’s business program, which also featured a keynote by Salim Ismail, technology strategist and executive director at Singularity University.