September 2025
I am very pleased to write you for the first time as Chair of the Section of Pharmacy Practice Leaders (SPPL) for 2025-2026. It is an honor to serve in this capacity and brief you on the upcoming year ahead.
First, I would like to acknowledge and welcome our fellow Section Advisory Group and Committee chairs and vice-chairs leading the charge for us this year! The service commitments are always impressive and very much appreciated. I would also like to recognize our immediate past chair, Kat Miller, and our outgoing Director-at-Large Bill Kernan, for their partnership, mentorship, and collaboration over the recent years. We have continued to receive strong support from our incoming Director-at-Large Della Bahmandar (a recent DSA recipient) and our current Director-at-Large Amanda Hansen. I am also humbled by the support of both David Chen, Vice President for Pharmacy Leadership and Planning and our ASHP Staff Liaison for the Section’s Executive Committee Tyffani Wingfield, Director for the ASHP Leadership Center.
We had a great Pharmacy Futures meeting this past June in Charlotte and I was able to network with an incredible number of peers and members within ASHP. As we navigate the ever-evolving healthcare landscape, I’m reminded progress is not simply about reacting to change. It’s about preparing for it with purpose, clarity, and confidence. At ASHP, our mission to support our members and the patients we serve requires us to be both strategic and resilient. As Chair, I want to highlight three critical areas that I believe are foundational to our future in the upcoming year: Leadership Succession Planning, Adaptive Resilience, and Business Sustainability.
One of our profession’s greatest responsibilities is preparing the next generation of leaders. As pharmacy continues to advance as a clinical, operational, and strategic partner in care delivery, we must focus on identifying, mentoring, and developing emerging talent. We must also support those growing in their current leadership roles. Whether you're managing a team, leading a department, or serving in an executive role, I urge you to think intentionally about who is ready, or could be ready, for more with your support. Please leverage the tools and resources available through ASHP to execute on those action plans. ASHP and the Section are investing in leadership pipelines through programming like the Pharmacy Leadership Academy, the Executive Fellowship, Conference for Pharmacy Leaders and the use of additional mentoring platforms that ensure continuity of excellence. Leadership is not just a position, it is a responsibility we all share to shape what’s ahead.
We’ve all learned in recent years that change is constant and often unexpected. From global health emergencies to supply chain challenges and workforce instability, our profession has been tested in profound ways. The response from pharmacy leaders has been extraordinary. Resilience cannot be episodic and sporadic, it must be built into our systems, culture, and mindset.
Adaptive resilience means designing teams, services, and operations that can bend without breaking. It means fostering a workforce that is equipped not only to recover but to lead through uncertainty. ASHP and the Section will continue to provide tools, advocacy, and resources that support personal and institutional resilience in the face of accelerating change.
The reality is clear from my perspective. Advancing the clinical and professional mission of pharmacy also requires financial and operational stewardship. Business sustainability is no longer an administrative concern, it’s a leadership imperative. Whether we’re developing innovative medication access models, negotiating fair reimbursements, or optimizing the use of technology and automation, sustainability must be part of every strategic decision.
ASHP is advocating on your behalf to ensure the pharmacy enterprise is recognized as essential to the health system’s financial and clinical outcomes. Through partnerships, education, and policy work, we are committed to helping our members design models of care that are both impactful and viable.
Lastly, I am excited to onboard our incoming chairs, vice-chairs, and section members as we roll out the Section’s newly refined strategic plan, which has been updated to reflect the evolving needs of our mission and vision. I encourage you to review the new pillars and committee objectives, using them as a roadmap for the year ahead and as a lens to reflect on lessons learned and practice experiences. The plan introduces meaningful new directives and charges that will pave each SAG’s agenda and give us a great amount of momentum to have an incredible year!
As we look ahead, reflect on each of these themes not as isolated concepts but as interconnected forces that define what it means to lead in pharmacy today. Our collective success will be shaped by how well we prepare the next generation, how we adapt with resilience, and how we sustain our business models in challenging environments.
Thank you for your continued leadership and for all that you do to advance pharmacy practice.
With gratitude and respect,
Tony Scott, PharmD, MBA, DPLA, FASHP
