Safeway’s Eastern division has again made a change to its top leadership. Dan Valenzuela has been named president, replacing Steve Burnham who has left the company. Additionally, Brad Spooner and Joe Perry have been named VPs of operations for the division, replacing Dean Willhite, who has also left the company.
Valenzuela, who will now have responsibility for the company’s more than 120 stores in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Washington, DC, most recently was president of Safeway’s Seattle division, an area where parent company Albertsons operates under both the Safeway and Albertsons banners. He began his career with Safeway as a courtesy clerk in 1978 in his native Northern California, becoming a store manager in 1981 and a district manager in 1991. In 2001, Valenzuela became VP-operations of Safeway’s Phoenix division and was named president of that unit in 2003. He was named Seattle division president following Albertsons acquisition of Safeway in January 2015.
Perry also joins the Eastern division from Albertsons’ Seattle, where he had been serving as that division’s VP-retail operations since January 2015. Prior to his stint in Seattle, he served in several positions with Safeway, including VP-marketing execution and VP-retail operations in Denver, and director of corporate initiatives in Pleasanton, CA.
Spooner, who began his career at Randall’s in Texas, has been with Safeway since 2005, joining the company from Winn Dixie. Most recently, Spooner served as a district manager for Eastern. He also served in the posts of VP-retail operations and VP-merchandising execution for the division.
Burnham was named president of the Lanham, MD-based Safeway division in October 2014, replacing Brian Baer three months prior to the acquisition of Safeway by Albertsons (the deal was first announced in March 2015). He formerly held several corporate positions with Safeway including VP-marketing and planning; VP-produce; and senior VP-produce, bakery and floral. He began his career with Safeway in 1989 also as a courtesy clerk.
Willhite started his career at Safeway as a courtesy clerk in 1981. He became a Safeway store manager in 1986 in his native Southern California and was named VP-operations for Safeway’s Denver unit in 2012. In 2014, he was named to the top store operations job in the Eastern division.
Taking Valenzuela’s place as president of the Seattle division is Karl Schroeder, the 40-year Safeway/Albertsons veteran who most recently was senior VP-corporate merchandising for Albertsons. Among his many jobs at Safeway/Albertsons was serving as Eastern division president from 2003-2004. He was also division president of Safeway’s most profitable unit, Northern California, from 2004-2012.