October 2026
Dear Colleagues,
It is an honor to serve as chair of the Section of Pharmacy Practice Leaders (SPPL) for 2026–2027.
I want to begin with heartfelt thanks to our section advisory group and committee chairs and vice chairs, and members. Your dedication to SPPL’s vision is what drives our success. I am also deeply grateful to our previous executive committee for their exceptional service, including Kat Miller (outgoing chair), Amanda Hansen (outgoing director-at-large), Anthony Scott (past chair), Della Bahmander (director-at-large), and Megan Swarthout (director-at-large). I warmly welcome Travis Dick (chair-elect) and Amanda Wollitz (director-at-large elect) to the executive committee and extend special appreciation to David Chen and Tyffani Wingfield for their continued commitment to our section and to advancing the profession. Our section’s strength is built on years of dedicated leadership and execution, and I am excited for all we will accomplish together this year.
We are just one week away from the ASHP Conference for Leaders in Chicago, where we will celebrate the annual John Webb Lecture Award. I am proud to recognize this year’s recipient, David Chen, RPh, MBA, and look forward to hearing his lecture. David has mentored and coached many of us, and it is a sincere honor to celebrate his leadership and years of service to our profession. As we reflect on the John W. Webb Lectures dating back to 1985, we are reminded that pharmacy leaders have guided our profession through profound change—from value-based care and DRG-based payment systems to Medicare Part D, 340B, workforce strain, and today’s rapidly evolving health care landscape.
I also want to recognize the work of our Education Steering Committee SPPL Educational Steering Committee, which developed a strong conference curriculum and recruited outstanding speakers on topics including:
- Predictive analytics and applications of AI and machine learning
- Navigating the new era of system integration and strategic partnerships
- Cost containment and new revenue generation in population health
- Pharmacy workforce strategy
- Innovative scheduling models to recruit, retain, and elevate pharmacy practice
- Private equity and joint ventures in health system pharmacy
I am also delighted to welcome back the Women in Pharmacy Leadership Roundtable Breakfast on Tuesday, October 8, at 7:00 a.m. All are invited to attend.
As I consider the challenges pharmacy leaders face, one theme stands out clearly: our people. Many of you have led through the strain of the pandemic and now face a post-pandemic reality marked by workforce shortages, rapid growth in specialty and ambulatory pharmacy, and expanding enterprise expectations. Health system pharmacy leaders now oversee increasingly complex operations, teams, and budgets—often at a scale unimaginable a generation ago. While this reflects the growing recognition of pharmacy’s value, the pressure is real.
With that in mind, I would like to center this year’s executive committee theme on helping leaders cultivate joy in their leadership practice.
Leadership is challenging, but it should also be rewarding. By developing ourselves, investing in others, embracing innovation, and celebrating impact, we can reconnect with the purpose and privilege of leadership.
I see four strategic pillars for the year ahead:
- Cultivating joy in ourselves through personal effectiveness, productivity, energy management, burnout prevention, work-life integration, and tools that give us time back for meaningful work.
- Cultivating joy through others through mentorship, sponsorship, coaching, recognition, psychological safety, and development of the next generation of pharmacy leaders.
- Cultivating joy through impact by reconnecting leaders to patient care, workforce outcomes, storytelling, and purpose-driven leadership.
- Cultivating joy through innovation by embracing AI, automation, technology, workforce redesign, and new pharmacy practice models.
We do not adopt technology simply because it is new. We embrace innovation because it creates capacity for the parts of leadership that bring us the greatest joy: developing people, solving problems, improving care, and building culture.
Through leadership development, modern tools, meaningful connection, and purposeful work, pharmacy leaders can thrive—not just survive—and rediscover what makes leadership worth it.
As I begin my term as Chair, I am energized by the opportunities ahead and by the collective strength of this community. I encourage each of you to consider how we can intentionally cultivate joy in our work, our teams, and our profession. Together, we can advance pharmacy practice while creating leadership experiences that are meaningful, fulfilling, and sustainable for ourselves and those we serve.
Warmly,
Becky Taylor
