Albertsons Companies announced August 8 that Tom Lofland, currently the vice president of marketing and merchandising for Safeway’s Eastern Division, has been promoted to Eastern Division president. He will report directly to Jim Perkins, Albertsons’ EVP and president of the retailer’s Acme Markets division based in Malvern, PA. Perkins will continue in his roles as Albertsons EVP and Acme Markets president and Lofland will have day-to-day responsibility for the management of Safeway Eastern.
As a 28-year grocery industry veteran, Lofland has a distinguished track record of accomplishments. His grocery career began in 1990, when he joined Albertsons and took part in the company’s management training program. In the years that followed, Lofland became a grocery manager and a store director. He later held roles as an assistant grocery sales manager, a grocery sales manager, a corporate director of grocery, and a division vice president of center store. In 2015, Lofland joined Safeway’s Eastern Division as vice president of merchandising and marketing and helped lead the post-merger transition.
Perkins began his Albertsons career as a store clerk in 1982. After multiple career advancing promotions, he was named president of Acme Markets in 2013 and was also elevated to executive VP of Albertsons. In 2015, he was promoted to EVP-East and for a year held the same title for the retail chain’s large Western operations. He returned to oversee a significantly larger Acme division (after the acquisition of more than 70 former A&P stores) in June 2017, before adding the Safeway leadership role to his list of duties in October of that year.