Fireside Chat Agenda

On Tuesday evening, we will celebrate the career of Steve Collis and his many contributions to our industry as he concludes his tenure as President and CEO of Cencora.

In a conversation with HDA President and CEO Chip Davis, Collis will discuss lessons learned as Cencora’s leader the past 13 years and share his insights on what’s next for our sector and the unique role it will continue to play in the healthcare of our nation.

About Steven H. Collis

Steven H. Collis is Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Cencora, Inc. Under Steve’s leadership, the company has experienced tremendous financial growth with annual revenue tripling from $80 billion since being named CEO in 2011, as well as significant global expansion with more than 46,000 team members spread across more than 50 countries.

Under Steve’s direction, several strategic investments and acquisitions enabled the company to expand its breadth of services and solutions, resulting in unprecedented partnerships, increased global reach, and deep expertise that is accelerating innovation and improving access to healthcare in meaningful ways. In 2012, Steve spearheaded Cencora’s (formerly AmerisourceBergen) acquisition of World Courier, a premier global specialty provider of transportation, storage, and distribution services for global clinical trials. The acquisition strengthened the company’s worldwide offerings to global biopharmaceutical partners and expanded specialty services outside of North America for the first time in company history. 

The following year, Steve established an innovative partnership with Walgreens Boots Alliance, marking the first time a national pharmacy chain turned over its pharmaceutical distribution to a wholesaler and collaborated for generic pharmaceuticals sourcing. Then in 2015, Steve’s vision to deliver value in diverse aspects of patient care and expand in growing markets led to the acquisition of MWI Veterinary Supply. As a result, the Wall Street Journal named Steve as the best performing chief executive in the Philadelphia region for 2015, and Barron’s ranked the company as No. 1 on their list of the 500 top performing companies in 2016 and 2017.
 
In 2021, Cencora completed the acquisition of European-based Alliance Healthcare, enhancing the company’s reach within pharmaceutical distribution, increasing the breadth of its global manufacturer services and solutions, and advancing the company’s ability to provide innovative, global healthcare solutions for customers and patients around the world. To deliver on his vision of uniting the company’s business under one brand that better reflects its global reach and its position at the center of the pharmaceutical supply chain, Steve oversaw the transition of the company from AmerisourceBergen Corporation to Cencora, Inc. in 2023. 
 
Additionally, Steve has been an advocate for fulfilling Cencora’s purpose of creating healthier futures and deepening the company’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. During his tenure the company created its first enterprise-wide, nonprofit charitable organization to support health-related causes that enrich the global community and established the DEI Global Council. Cencora was named a DiversityInc Noteworthy Company five times since 2017. The company was also honored by the Women’s Forum of New York as a leading company for gender balance on its board of directors and as a best place to work for disability inclusion by Disability:IN.
 
Steve’s career with Cencora spans nearly three decades and includes time leading the company’s specialty and wholesale distribution businesses. He helped found the former Specialty Group business in 1994 and grew it to be the market leader in specialty pharmaceutical distribution and product commercialization services.
 
In addition to serving as chairman of Cencora’s board of directors, he serves on the board of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers, is a founding Vice Chairman of the American Cancer Society’s CEOs Against Cancer Greater Philadelphia Chapter, and serves on the board of governors for the American Red Cross.

He earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree with honors from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.