Ask an Alumnus - Andrea Collaro

Andrea Collaro, PharmD ’97

Senior Director, Product Development and Brand Management on Health Care, Walgreens

Dr. Andrea Collaro earned her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the UIC College of Pharmacy. She has a strong professional background rooted in healthcare, with positions spanning pharmacy operations and procurement to merchandising, and is currently the senior director of product development and brand management responsible for Owned Brand Healthcare at Walgreens Boots Alliance. She spearheads the strategy, commercialization, and product development of insight-driven, consumer-led healthcare products, including products that have won notable industry awards. She is a skilled strategist who articulates direction, promotes collaboration, and inspires diversity of thought to develop high-performing teams.

Andrea Collaro, PharmD ’97

What do you enjoy most about your current role?

I handle all of our private-label products that we sell over the counter within the healthcare segment. The biggest area of enjoyment is doing research and understanding customers’ unmet needs, then developing products tailored toward those needs— that whole life cycle of identifying white space and then bringing products from an idea to our shelves.

An excellent example is within our vitamin space. We knew from consumer trends and insights that consumers were looking more and more for cleaner ingredients in supplements. So, we developed a line of free-and-pure vitamins and supplements that were nonGMO [genetically modified organism], gluten free, and free of artificial colors based on that insight.

We continue to develop products that have different elements of free and pure. For instance, we have developed many over-the-counter drugs where the national brand has dyes and we make a Walgreensbranded product that’s dye free.

You really need to be checking in with the consumer on a regular basis as their mindset is evolving. I want to make sure that we develop products that meet their needs.

What are you working on now, and what have you learned from it?

We’re working on our three-year pipeline for product development. That starts with an understanding of the customer mindset today, global trends, insights and then identifying white space opportunities. Diabetes, for example—that’s a disease state that crosses a lot of different product categories.

We’ll look at what a person with diabetes needs to help manage their condition. Then, we’ll look at products against each of those variables.

What advice do you have for those interested in a similar path?

What I do today is not something I was prepared for in pharmacy school. It’s an interesting opportunity that presented itself early in my career. That can be intimidating when opportunities come up and you say, “Well, that’s not what I was trained for, and I’m not sure if that’s something I should be doing.” But [I recommend] just taking a chance and not being afraid to step into territories where maybe you don’t have the experience that a particular role is calling for, to still put yourself in an uncomfortable situation to try something new out.

You were recently honored by the Women in Retail Leadership Circle with the Top Women in Store Brands Innovation Award 2022 and by Drug Store News with the Top Women in Health, Wellness & Beauty Rising Star Award (congrats!). What do you attribute your success to?

It’s around the discipline of really mining data to see where our customers are in their healthcare journey and then developing products that address their needs.

During COVID, for example, we worked with a supplier to enhance our pulse oximeters to have a respiratory rate-measuring component. That was useful in the middle of COVID when consumers couldn’t get to healthcare providers and the hospitals were all tapped out, so they could assess if respiratory rate and lung function were declining.

How have you learned to overcome challenges you have faced as you navigate your career?

When I’m confronted with something that I need to deal with, I just try to remain calm, take a step back. It’s a matter of sitting down with your stakeholders and understanding who needs what specific thing to happen on their end and see where you can meet in the middle. It’s usually taking a step back and thinking thoroughly about it and what concessions my team might have to make or what I might be asking of another team but trying to find a middle ground to problem-solve.

What is a fun fact about you?

I’m a Disney fanatic. Everything Disney, the parks, the cruises, I love it all. I’ve been on 10 cruises, and the parks, I probably have been to 15 times.