Jeff Rein is a former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Walgreens, a drug store chain in the United States.
Rein was born in New Orleans in 1953, lived in Phoenix, and came to Tucson at age 10 when his family relocated. He lived in Tucson for about 25 years, but currently resides in a Chicago suburb. He has two children, one son (James Rein) and one daughter.
After graduating from Sahuaro High School, he enrolled at the University of Arizona, majoring in accounting because he wanted to own his own business. During college, he worked at a Defender Drug, at Fifth and Craycroft. “I enjoyed it because I like science and enjoyed the business. I thought, ‘This is great. I’ll own my own drug store.’” He graduated from the University of Arizona in accounting in 1974 and pharmacy in 1980. While in college, Jeff was the organizer and player/coach of a baseball team called the "Bombers".
Rein says he became interested in pharmacy as a profession because of the interaction with customers and patients.
While he was working on his pharmacy degree, he interned for the man who was to become his father-in-law. Rein recalls, “A girl walked into the pharmacy and talked with my boss for a while and then left. I asked, ‘Who was that?’” She was Susan Naber, the boss’s daughter. Rein and Susan, also a UA graduate, have two children.
Rein had been with Walgreens for 27 years. He joined the company as an assistant manager in 1982, was promoted to store manager in 1984, district manager in 1990, divisional vice president and treasurer in 1996 and vice president of marketing systems and services in 2000. Rein was appointed executive vice president of marketing in 2001 and promoted to president and chief operating officer in 2003. In 2006, he became chief executive officer and was named chairman in 2007. Rein succeeded David Bernauer for the position of Chairman.
Rein published a weekly article on the Walgreens intranet called ReinDrop where he related current store events and words of wisdom and encouragement to Walgreens employees.
Rein resigned from Walgreens on October 10, 2008.[1]