McKESSON DRUG EXEC VP POST FILLED BY DOUG NELSON
Executive Summary
McKESSON DRUG EXEC VP POST FILLED BY DOUG NELSON, who will assume the second-in-command position May 1 and report to McKesson Drug President Joseph Polastri. The recreation of an exec VP post for the drug division makes Nelson Polastri's heir apparent. Polastri, at 62 is nearing retirment age and will devote a good deal of time next year to outside causes as National Wholesale Druggists Association chairman. Nelson, 38, has headed McKesson Corp.'s Water Division since 1983 and has been with the company for 12 years. Prior to heading the division, he was general manager of the McKesson Alhambra National Water Company in California. He started his career at McKesson in 1977 in the company's Planning and Analysis Department. During Nelson's seven-year tenure as head of the Water Division, segment revenues have increased from $128 mil. to an estimated $235 mil. in the current fiscal year. Revenues since 1985 have grown at a compound annual rate of 9% since 1985, while operating profits have increased 12% per annum in that same time period, according to a report on the business in the December 1989 company publication "McKesson Today". That magazine contains a mini-profile of Nelson and quotes Exec VP-Operations Ken Hicken calling Nelson "one of the best young managers we have at McKesson." McKesson's Water Division operates bottled drinking water businesses in six states in the Sunbelt, including California, the biggest bottled water-consuming state in the U.S., and the key markets of Nevada, Arizona, and Texas. McKesson sells the Sparkletts, Alhambra Crystal, Aqua-Vend and Sparkletts Seltzer brands to over 500,000 customers and controls an estimated one-fifth of the U.S. five-gallon, direct-delivery bottled water market. Polastri, a 36-year veteran of McKesson, has headed up the company's largest division for five years. Drug distribution revenues totaled $5.8 bil. in FY 1989 (ended March 31) and were$4.7 bil. through the first nine months of the current fiscal year. Polastri was named as exec VP and general manager in January 1984, succeeding Rex Malson who was promoted to a corporate operations executive post. Polastri was promoted to president of McKesson Drug in early 1986. He also recently was elected corporate VP of McKesson.