Messages from leadership

CEO statement

AmerisourceBergen is united in our responsibility to create healthier futures worldwide. Our purpose is the driving force behind the work our 41,000 global team members do every day—including giving back to our communities.


The COVID-19 pandemic has caused challenges for communities across the globe, and AmerisourceBergen’s actions throughout have been guided by our purpose. We have continued to play a vital role in the healthcare system while protecting and supporting our team members and promoting global sustainability as we advance human and animal health.

We are incredibly proud of the work we do to ensure access to quality care, drive efficiency in the healthcare system, and support the viability of healthcare providers and pharmaceutical innovators—especially in times as uncertain as these. 

Our commitment to global sustainability and corporate responsibility focuses on three core areas: inspired team members, resilient operations, and healthy communities.

 

Inspired team members

Investing in our people and culture is critical to delivering our purpose and achieving our enterprise strategy. We have expanded benefits to support AmerisourceBergen team members and focused on advancing our talent and culture. 

The health, safety and well-being of our team members is paramount, and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we have taken several steps to protect and support them in this time. 

AmerisourceBergen is focused on advancing our talent and culture through development, career growth and diversity initiatives. We have developed a new integrated talent framework that includes an enhanced leadership competency model, an enterprise learning strategy, and a modern approach to performance management. On the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) front, we have made investments to further strengthen our efforts and aspire to accelerate business impact by inspiring the best and brightest global talent across all dimensions of diversity to perform at their full potential. We have conducted a comprehensive situation assessment and created a new long-term D&I strategy to bolster our progress with our people, culture, and community. In November 2020, we named a new chief diversity & inclusion officer to oversee the next evolution of our worldwide D&I strategy.  
 

Resilient operations

As an agile market leader, we are ready to respond when the world changes overnight. Even before COVID-19, we understood the importance of investing in our business, our technologies, and our capabilities to meet the evolving needs of our customers, clients, and partners.

Our robust business continuity planning allows us to seamlessly pivot, guide, and support our shared customers—helping our communities at a moment’s notice. This preparation—along with our focus on supply chain innovation—positioned AmerisourceBergen to partner exclusively with the United States government to manage the distribution of the first COVID-19 treatments authorized for emergency use.

While we were prepared to fulfill our vital role when this pandemic began, AmerisourceBergen cannot fight COVID-19 alone. We believe it is going to take all of us working together across the private, public, and non-profit sectors to defeat the virus that has upended our economy, our society, and our lives.


Resilient operations are also critical to meeting other threats to our environment, such as natural disasters, and require us to be prepared to adapt to a changing climate. Regardless of what challenges come our way, we remain fully aware of our impact on the environment and are committed to responsible supply chain operations that contribute to a healthier planet for future generations. 

 

Healthy communities

The AmerisourceBergen Foundation, an independent not-for-profit charitable organization, supports health-related causes that enrich the global community. A major area of focus for us is health equity among the most vulnerable populations, and the investments we have made increase access to healthcare for human and animal populations while ensuring prescription drug safety. 
 
When COVID-19 emerged, the Foundation donated more than $1 million in emergency grants to over 20 non-profit partners for pandemic response efforts, allowing them to concentrate on the communities most impacted by the pandemic. It was a learning experience for all of us, and this spirit of collaboration was also displayed in our second annual (now virtual) Foundation Conference, where over 60 of our non-profit partners came together to connect and share best practices to address some of the most difficult issues impacting society today, including pandemic resilience, social justice and racial equality, and community improvement.
 
Philanthropic efforts, now more than ever, have the potential to drive conversations leading to real systemic transformation. We were especially proud this year to work with existing partners to find new opportunities to strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in our communities.

 
We will always leverage our inspired teams and global network to amplify our impact. In fact, one of the AmerisourceBergen Foundation’s most successful campaigns in 2020 was matching team member donations at a 2:1 ratio for organizations focused on social justice. 

I hope you will enjoy learning more about our global sustainability and corporate responsibility initiatives, which demonstrate how we are uniting with partners across the supply chain to create healthier futures for all.


Steven H. Collis
Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer