Pharmacy Quality Alliance Elects 2025 Board of Directors and Executive Committee

The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) Board of Directors elected four new members and its 2025 executive committee officers during the 2024 fourth quarter meeting. Individuals began serving their 2025 term on January 1.

“PQA’s Board of Directors is a collaborative, strategic and visionary group of industry experts and decision makers aligned around achieving quality medication use,” Micah Cost, PharmD, MS, CAE, PQA’s CEO, said. “The board’s leadership is essential in guiding PQA and ensuring that the alliance is optimally positioned to address the most pressing issues facing patients and our health care system related to medication safety, access and appropriate use. I’m excited to welcome our four new members and to continue to work alongside Chair Kirby and our returning board members to fulfill PQA’s mission in the coming year.”

James Kirby, Chief Commercial Officer at Kroger Health, will serve as PQA’s board chair in 2025. Kirby has been a member of the PQA board since 2022. Kirby succeeds Susan Cantrell, Chief Executive Officer, Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, who served as PQA’s board chair in 2024 and will continue as immediate past chair and board member.

“Inappropriate medication use leads to adverse outcomes and extraordinary waste in our healthcare system,” Kirby said. “Collaboration among pharmacists, other providers, patients, and payers is critical to addressing this issue. I’m honored to serve as PQA’s incoming board chair and look forward to working with this impressive group of leaders from across the health care industry as we support PQA’s goals of improving medication safety, adherence, and appropriate use.”

PQA’s board, including its executive committee, represents the breadth and diversity of PQA’s multi-stakeholder membership. In addition to Kirby and Cantrell, the 2025 executive committee is:

• Vice Chair: Jeff Rochon, Executive Director, Pharmacy HIT Collaborative
• Secretary: J.W. Hill, Chief Operating Officer, National Council for Prescription Drug Programs
• Treasurer: Christopher Powers, Director, Medicare Stars Data and Analytics, Cigna Insurance Company
• Member-at-Large: Amina Abubakar, Owner and Chief Executive Officer, Avant Pharmacy & Wellness Center

The newly elected board members for 2025 are:

• Justin Bioc, Head of Clinical Pharmacy, Devoted Health
• Michael Johnsrud, Executive Director, TxCORE, and Senior Research Scientist Health Outcomes, University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy
• Lauren Lyles-Stolz, Vice President, Reimbursement, Innovation, and Advocacy, National Association of Chain Drug Stores
• Theresa Tolle, Owner, Bay Street Pharmacy

Fourteen board members will continue their service in 2025:

• Parmjit Agarwal, Vice President, Channel Management, Pfizer, Inc.
• Shantanu Agrawal, Chief Health Officer, Elevance Health
• Sheila Arquette, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Association of Specialty Pharmacy
• Ceci Connolly, President and Chief Executive Officer, Alliance of Community Health Plans
• Scott Dell, Vice President, US Health Outcomes & Medical Engagement, Eli Lilly and Company
• Laurin Dixon, Chief of Staff to the Chief Operating Officer, Centene Corporation
• Lauren Esterly, Vice President, Pharmacy Clinical Strategy, Humana
• Jim Gartner, President, PerformRx
• Deanna Horner, Senior Vice President, Chief Pharmacy Officer, Waltz Health
• Michelle Ketcham, Director, Division of Clinical and Operational Performance, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
• Crystal Lennartz, President, Health Mart and Health Mart Atlas
• Brian Nightengale, Executive Vice President and President of Healthcare Solutions, Inmar Intelligence
• Anita Patel, Vice President, Pharmacy Services Development, Walgreens
• Tricia Lee Rolle, Senior Advisor, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

PQA thanks the following board members and liaisons whose terms conclude at the end of 2024: 

• Ilisa Bernstein, formerly with American Pharmacists Association
• Linda Garrelts MacLean, President, Community Pharmacy Foundation, and Professor Emeritus, Washington State University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals Sciences
• Sharon Jhawar, formerly with SCAN Health Plan
• Michael Taday, Senior Vice President, Service Operations, Aetna, A CVS Health Company