DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreen Co. has strengthened its pharmacy purchasing and pharmacy supply chain team through promotions and the addition of new executives.

Frank DeStefano has been promoted to group vice president of pharmacy purchasing and supply chain. A 19-year veteran of Walgreens, DeStefano has led the pharmacy purchasing department since April 2004.

He is responsible for buying brand and generic drugs and for pharmacy inventory optimization for Walgreen’s retail, mail, specialty, home infusion, on-site and work site pharmacy units. DeStefano started at Walgreens as a pharmacy intern in 1983 and was most recently divisional vice president of pharmacy purchasing and strategy.

Meanwhile, Mike Bleser has been elevated to divisional vice president of pharmacy supply chain and analytics. He is responsible for the strategic management of pharmacy inventory across the enterprise. Bleser joined Walgreens as manager of reporting and analysis in 1993 and has been cited as a major contributor in his roles in e-commerce, corporate strategy and, most recently, pharmacy purchasing.

Mike Allen has been promoted to divisional vice president of generic pharmacy purchasing and strategy and is responsible for all generic drug purchasing. He was previously divisional merchandise manager for generics. Allen joined Walgreens in 1998 as a pharmacist and served as a pharmacy manager in Chicago until 2003, when he joined Walgreens Health Initiatives as a clinical pharmacist.

In addition to the promotions, Jeff Foreman has joined Walgreens as divisional vice president of brand Rx wholesaler and vaccine purchasing.

Foreman was previously with Cardinal Health Inc., where he was vice president of strategic purchasing, marketing and business development. In that role he was responsible for half of the company’s pharma purchasing and for negotiating fee-for-service agreements with branded pharmaceutical ­manufacturers.

Also new to Walgreens is Gerry Gleeson as divisional vice president of pharmaceutical development. His primary focus is in optimizing relationships with pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Gleeson previously spent 11 years with Schering-Plough Corp. (now part of Merck & Co.) in the global market access business unit. He was responsible for leading the payer marketing strategy for all core U.S. product franchises and managing Schering-Plough’s global diversified products business unit.