Albertsons Companies has named a new president/CEO.
Vivek Sankaran, currently CEO of PepsiCo Foods North America, will take over the two positions at Albertsons on April 25. Jim Donald, currently the company’s president and CEO, will continue as co-chairman of the board. Leonard Laufer will serve as the other co-chairman. The company’s longtime leader, Robert Miller has been named chairman emeritus and will continue to serve as a member of the board of directors.
“When I joined Albertsons Companies in 2018, I found a company that had a strong decentralized operating model, a fantastic leadership team and incredible potential to be the four-walls and no-walls leader in the grocery industry,” says Donald. “Over the past year, our team made our company’s nearly 2,300 stores even stronger as we sharpened our focus on the intersection of technology and service. I’m looking forward to the continued progress of the company under the seasoned leadership of Vivek. We continue to be well-positioned to serve the evolving needs of today’s customer, where, how and when they choose to shop with us.”
“It is a great privilege to join a company that has such deep roots in American retail,” says Sankaran. “Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel Osco, Shaw's, ACME, Tom Thumb, Randall’s, United Supermarkets, Market Street, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs – all of these banners and more in the Albertsons Companies family of stores have hundreds of years of combined history. Our stores are integral to the lives of millions of customers each week. I’m excited to build on the legacies of past CEOs Bob Miller and Jim Donald who both laid a solid foundation for success, and look forward to working with our associates to realize the opportunities and navigate the challenges in our evolving industry.”