Rite Aid has promoted Ken Martindale to the position of president and chief operating officer. Rite Aid chairman, president and CEO John Standley will continue as the company’s chairman and chief executive officer. Martindale, most recently Rite Aid’s senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, will continue to report to Standley.
“Since becoming our chief operating officer in 2010, Ken has continued to play a significant role in helping the company improve its overall performance and return to profitability,” said Standley. “Ken’s appointment as president and chief operating officer is an opportunity for Rite Aid to further leverage his exceptional leadership skills, broad operating experience and strategic capabilities as we continue to focus on successfully growing our business.”
Martindale is a retail veteran with more than 35 years of diverse operations, marketing and merchandising experience and has a long relationship with Standley. Both men had early career stops at Frey Meyer, Inc., a $15 billion food, drug and general merchandise retailer, which later merged with Kroger. Standley later became CEO of Pathmark and brought Martindale to the company as co-president and chief merchandising and marketing officer. He served there until December 2007 when the company was sold to A&P.
Standley became CEO of Rite Aid in 2010 and chairman of the board in 2012. Martindale joinied the company in 2008 as senior executive vice president of merchandising, marketing and logistics. After years of struggling, the Camp Hill, PA based drug chain has seen a turnaround in the past year, and in April the company posted its first full-year profit in six years. However, it still remains the number three drug chain in the country behind Walgreens and CVS.
Martindale started his retail career in 1975 with Smith’s Food and Drug Centers, a West Coast food and drug chain, where he rose from a district manager in store operations to senior vice president of marketing and senior vice president of sales and merchandising. In January 1998, he joined Fred Meyer, Inc., a $15 billion food, drug and general merchandise retailer, after it bought Smith’s. He served as executive vice president, sales and procurement, for Fred Meyer until September 1999 after the company’s merger with the Kroger Company.
During his retail career, Martindale also founded and operated Orchard Street, Inc., a food retailer in Salt Lake City; consulted for national and regional food retailers on category management, marketing and strategic planning; and served as president, CEO and chairman of Intesource, Inc., a software company designed to help food and drug retail, wholesale and manufacturing clients with procurement.
Martindale currently is president of The Rite Aid Foundation and serves on the board of directors of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS).