MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — Frank Scorpiniti has stepped down as chief executive officer of Rexall/Katz Group Canada Ltd.

Scorpiniti, who formerly headed pharmacy operations at Duane Reade and Longs Drug Stores, will be returning to the United States to pursue an opportunity in the retail industry.

Rexall/Katz Group will announce a new CEO soon. Chief operating officer Warren Jeffery has assumed day-to-day responsibility in the interim, reporting to chairman Daryl Katz.

“During his three and a half years at Rexall, initially as COO and then as CEO, Frank led a significant transformation of our business, including the development of the new Rexall brand that defines our stores, our pharmacies and our private label products today,” Katz said late last month. “Frank also pioneered our entry into, and leadership role in, the area of patient-focused services in our pharmacies, and other pharmacy service and technology ­innovations.”

Scorpiniti joined the company in April 2011 as COO. Ten months later he was named CEO following the retirement of Andy Giancamilli.

At Duane Reade, Scorpiniti served as senior vice president of pharmacy operations starting in December 2008. Before that he held positions of increasing responsibility at Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Longs, becoming vice president of pharmacy operations before its sale to CVS.

Scorpiniti also resigned as board chair of the Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada (formerly the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores). He was succeeded by Vivek Sood, general manager of Lawton’s Drug Stores Ltd., who was vice chair.

“On behalf of the staff at Neighbourhood Pharmacies, we want to thank Frank for his leadership as chair during this dynamic time in our industry and congratulate him on his new role leading a retail organization in the United States,” said Denise Carpenter, the organization’s president and CEO. “Frank Scorpiniti has been a visionary leader through a critical period in the Canadian retail pharmacy industry’s ­development.”

“Through his vision and steadfast focus on putting patients first, Frank helped position retail pharmacy as one part of the larger solution to the serious challenges facing the Canadian health care delivery system,” added Carpenter. “Frank’s vision and focus are embodied in our industry’s seminal policy platform, 9000 Points of Care: Improving Access to Affordable Healthcare, and brought to life daily by our members at more than 6,500 locations across the country.”

Scorpiniti thanked Carpenter “and her dedicated staff at Neighbourhood Pharmacies for their unwavering support for our member companies. Neighbourhood Pharmacies’ laser focus on a renewed strategy has served to better align our members and the broader industry as a whole, all focused on improving health care delivery in Canada. With Neighbourhood Pharmacies’ support, I’m enthusiastic for the increasingly important health care role that pharmacy will play in Canada’s future.”

Sood’s first formal engagement as chair was to present the keynote address at the Public Policy Forum’s Atlantic Summit on Healthcare and Drug Cost Sustainability, last month in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

“Vivek Sood and Frank Scorpiniti oversaw our association’s recent rebranding and research-based policy agenda — which more directly link our work with where our members have their biggest impact on the health and well-being of Canadians — and they have been central in attracting other industry senior executives to help guide our association and build its effectiveness,” Carpenter said.