It’s been just over a year since Bob Mauch took over as CEO at Cencora, a global pharmaceutical solutions organization. While the first year for any new CEO is going to be exciting and include challenges, this year in particular introduced unique considerations and challenges for companies in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. While Mauch acknowledges that challenges exist, he prefers to refer to it as year full of opportunities.

In January 2025, a new presidential administration took power. With it came a new vision for healthcare in the US, one that brought news of potential tariffs and plans for most-favored-nation pricing for pharmaceutical products.

President Trump discussed plans to push the industry to heavily invest in US-based manufacturing sites and rely less on importing pharmaceuticals. While the details are still being hammered out, these moves have had a profound impact on the industry as it prepares to adjust to these challenges without facing any serious supply chain and market access interruptions.

“We’re operating in a dynamic healthcare landscape,” Mauch tells Pharm Exec when asked about the current environment. “We continue to maintain focus on delivering the solutions and support our manufacturer partners and healthcare provider customers need as they navigate the uncertainty. At the end of the day, the work we do—whether it’s our role in supporting pharmaceutical innovation or ensuring providers have access to the medicines they need—has a real impact on patients around the world. And that drives us to remain focused amid change and uncertainty.”

Regardless, 2025 is definitely a unique first year for any CEO to face. Fortunately, Mauch came prepared. He’s been working in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries his entire career and he drew from his years of experience to navigate the market.

“It’s a tremendous honor to lead a company like Cencora. We are a purpose-driven company united in our responsibility to create healthier futures,” he says. “We play a vital role in supporting pharmaceutical commercialization and access through our end-to-end solutions and services. Obviously, there’s a lot going on in healthcare. As our customers face increased challenges and pressures brought by various changes, we’re focused on strengthening those partnerships to support their evolving needs and ensure patients can access the vital medications they need.”

Planning for the future

Mauch has a very direct approach to driving the business to success: there is no room for complacency for any company operating in healthcare. He acknowledges Cencora is very well-positioned in the market through its end-to-end solutions and services, but is quick to emphasize the rapid pace of change in healthcare and the importance of anticipating and being equipped to support customers’ future needs.

“My experience coming into the role of CEO was unique in the sense that our company was already performing very well, so it’s a very different experience than others who may step into a role in which they’ll be responsible for leading a turnaround,” he said. “We’re focused on how we can strengthen or expand our capabilities in areas we already perform well to create even more value for our partners and customers. To that end, we’ve identified and are focused on four drivers that will strengthen our execution: digital transformation, talent and culture, productivity, and prioritizing growth-oriented investments.”

Broad scale digital transformation involves redesigning processes to create one end-to-end business process versus separate vertical processes, and then it requires applying the right technology to optimize the process. Cencora is using data and advanced analytics to improve its operations, including modernizing systems and enhancing both customer and team member experience.

Focus on specialty

The strategic drivers, including digital transformation, are designed to support Cencora’s execution and growth priorities, which includes a focus on continuing to expand its capabilities to support the fast-growing specialty pharmaceuticals market.

“We’re already well positioned in the specialty space through the solutions and services we provide, including specialty distribution, to healthcare customers and manufacturers,” says Mauch. “There is tremendous growth in specialty, and we continue to prioritize opportunities to build on and strengthen our capabilities to support specialty product innovation and access to these vital medicines.”

Around 70% of new medicines developed through 2027 are expected to be complex specialty medicines, driven in part by significant growth in oncology and immunology.

Specialty medicines, such as cell and gene therapies, introduce unique challenges, including special handling and administration. For example, reportedly half of new products launched globally through 2027 will require cold storage—up from 37% of drugs launched between 2013 and 2017.

According to Mauch, Cencora continues to enhance its specialty pharmaceutical service capabilities, enabling it to deliver differentiated value designed to help drugmakers accelerate time-to-market and execute successful product launches.

Mauch explains, “For example, we’re expanding our pharmaceutical third-party logistic (3PL) capabilities, including cold storage capacity, in the United States and Europe. We’re able to leverage our internationally scaled 3PL service and deep local market expertise, including regulatory affairs and market access, to provide integrated support across multiple geographies.”

At the same time, Cencora is broadening its solutions and services, which include specialty distribution and supporting specialty providers in strengthening their practices and delivering high-quality care in their communities. Under Mauch’s leadership, Cencora acquired Retina Consultants of America (RCA), a leading management services organization of retina specialists. RCA operates a clinical research network with more than 50 clinical trial sites spanning Phase I to IV studies.

Performance and purpose

The one thing that any business in any industry needs to succeed is a talented and dedicated team that can execute its goals. Without that, no amount of planning can hold off failure. Mauch says he wants Cencora to be a place where people not only want to come and work, but spend their career at.

“We have an amazing culture, which starts with our purpose. Our team members understand there is a patient at the end of every decision we make,” he tells Pharm Exec. “Our purpose fuels performance and serves as the foundation to our culture. From a leadership style perspective, it’s all about being collaborative. I want everyone to know they work on one large, unified team.”

Cencora, Mauch adds, is focused on providing its more than 51,000 team members with tools to grow, and the visibility and processes to communicate career aspirations and discuss the path to reach their goals.

“One of the areas we’re really working on is career-pathing for team members,” he explains. “If somebody comes to me and says that they want to be vice president of a department in the future, they need to have an easy-to-understand roadmap. Obviously, there are no guarantees, but we want team members to have a pathway and be supported on the journey. We’re committed to developing our team members and fostering a culture where we attract and retain best-in-class talent.”

In today’s rapidly changing healthcare landscape, and as companies navigate new challenges and pressures, Cencora is applying that same level of rigor to engagements with its customers.

Mauch cites the phrase “active learning and active leading” to describe Cencora’s approach and prioritization around strengthening its strategic relationships with pharmaceutical companies and healthcare provider customers.

During his first year, Mauch and his leadership team have prioritized connecting with partners and customers in the US and around the world, from an independent pharmacy in South Carolina and a health system in Detroit to hosting manufacturer partners at one of Cencora’s 3PL facilities in the UK.

“These focused engagements enable us to more deeply understand our customers’ strategies, business challenges, and growth opportunities. As the market continues to evolve, these conversations better position us to respond to our customers’ needs, anticipate potential challenges and proactively partner on solutions,” says Mauch. “The output of the conversations also help to inform how we invest and expand our business, with the goal of creating more value for our customers.”

A life in pharma

Mauch describes his career as having been in healthcare and pharma for his “entire life,” dating back to his childhood when he worked in his parents’ community pharmacy. That experience gave him a direct understanding of the impact and value of pharmaceuticals and accessible care.

A trained pharmacist and health economist, Mauch’s drive to understand and convey the value of appropriate pharmaceutical care led him to start a company (later acquired by AmerisourceBergen, now Cencora) that provides health economics as well as strategic and reimbursement consulting to pharmaceutical companies.

Mauch, who now has more than 30 years of experience in pharma care, says there is still a need for better understanding and more awareness around the total economic value of a therapy.

“There is still a disconnect,” he tells Pharm Exec. “And as we continue the important conversations related to pharmaceutical pricing, it’s critical to understand the cost effectiveness and real value of pharmaceutical innovation—and the benefits that patients and society get from access to therapies that can lead to dramatically improved outcomes.”

Sharing the true value of distributors

Reflecting on the role of pharmaceutical distributors in the healthcare supply chain, Mauch offers a glimpse into the work that occurs every night in distribution centers across the country.

“On an average day, tens of thousands of customers, such as pharmacies, hospitals, and community physician practices, place orders for FDA-approved medications up until 7:00 PM,” says Mauch. “They receive those medications the very next day, allowing patients to access medicines they need, where and when they need them.”

In total, pharmaceutical distributors, such as Cencora, deliver more than 10 million medicines every day to hundreds of thousands of healthcare providers.

That is possible, he notes, because of decades of investment in physical infrastructure by pharma distributors, which has resulted in what Mauch describes as the most efficient, sophisticated, and secure supply chain in the world. Cencora is investing hundreds of millions of dollars over the next several years to bolster its distribution network in the US, better positioning the company to support its customers’ growing needs, including the heightened demand for cold chain storage.

“It’s an amazing capability, and I often say that every night at our company—miracles happen,” he says. “Millions of products are ordered and reach the provider by the next morning. It’s important to remember that fulfilling these orders means that somebody is getting vital therapies, such as cancer treatment, the very next day. We continually invest in infrastructure and deploy solutions to create more stability in the supply chain, ensuring safe, secure, and efficient access to products.”

What’s overlooked, or misunderstood, about the role of pharmaceutical distributors, Mauch believes, is the value that extends beyond the logistics of getting a treatment from point A to point B. For example, when distributors purchase products from manufacturers, they assume financial responsibility for the therapies they deliver, including high-cost specialty products.

“Through our model, we allow providers to have stocked shelves and patients to have immediate access to treatments,” says Mauch. “We help healthcare providers like pharmacists bridge the cash-flow gap from when they buy medicines they dispense to when they’re reimbursed for it. That helps pharmacies to have the medications to fill prescriptions on their shelves when patients need them, even as they wait to be reimbursed.”

Advice from dad

Thinking back to a conversation he had with his father at his family’s pharmacy, Mauch references a message that still resonates with him today and has influenced his view on business.

“He was in a negotiation about something,” recalls Mauch. “I was asking him why he was thinking about things in a certain way, and his answer to me was something along the lines of, in business and healthcare, everyone has to win. You can’t win and have somebody else lose. If you take a broader context, everybody in the channel must operate at a high level and get a fair return to ensure patients can continue to access high-quality care, including the vital medications they need.”