Albertsons named the new leadership team that will supervise the large grocery chain’s recently announced centralized merchandising plan. The new national category team will be led by Anthony Suggs, group VP-center store. The new platform, first announced on May 7, will manage center store merchandising for its 12 operating divisions covering nearly 2,300 stores nationwide.
The shift to a centralized format was made to potentially provide greater economic savings and internal efficiencies for the Boise, ID-based merchant, which is the second largest pure-play grocery chain in the country behind Kroger, with annual sales approaching $65 billion.
However, all other merchandising functions will remain local, and the big retailer will continue to operate primarily with a decentralized approach. All 12 operating divisions will still fully control perishable merchandising (except for pre-packaged meat items such as bacon and hot dogs) and also handle regional and local dry grocery items which represent about 15 percent of center store sales. Also remaining within the current decentralized division structure will be local control of pricing, promotion and advertising. Moreover, the individual divisions will continue to make all operational and administrative decisions for the markets they oversee.
Suggs most recently served as VP-marketing and merchandising of Albertsons’ Jewel-Osco division. He has spent his entire 23-year career with the Itasca, IL based unit of Albertsons. In his new role, Suggs will be assisted by five national VPs who will oversee a group of national category directors most closely linked to that national VP’s area of expertise.
Heading up the household consumables team will be Alice Chan, who most recently was VP-sales and marketing for Albertsons’ “own brands.” Reporting to Chan will be: Dave Beal (formerly of corporate merchandising), who will manage household cleaners, detergent/laundry needs and miscellaneous household; Kevin Bellefeuille (also formerly of corporate merchandising), who will manage paper (tabletop, tissue, towels, napkins), housewares (food storage), and miscellaneous household (trash bags); Yana Hansen (formerly of Stop & Shop), who will direct miscellaneous household (sewing/canning/polish), automotive hardware, housewares, light bulbs/electrical, stationery/school /art supplies, video/audio, photo imaging, insecticide and charcoal/logs; Maria Morales-Frau (formerly of Home Depot), who will supervise seasonal/continuity/ promotion (greeting cards), batteries, miscellaneous household (candles) and social expression; and Lynn Warin (also formerly of corporate merchandising), who will oversee pet food/pet supplies (including supplies, bird seed, litter).
The national VP for “ready-to-eat” foods will be Albertsons veteran Buster Houston, who most recently served the company as VP-merchandising strategy. His national category directors will be: Matt Boyd (formerly of corporate merchandising who also spent many years at Safeway’s Eastern division) will manage non-carbonated beverages and carbonated beverages/mixers; Sean Heryet (formerly of corporate merchandising) will handle gums/mints/candy (including seasonal candy); Eric Myers (formerly of the Denver division) will direct cookies/crackers and jams/jellies/spreads; Tim Ryan (formerly of Albertsons’ Southwest division) will supervise salty snacks; Miriam Welch (formerly of the Northern California division) will manage cereal, breakfast and nutrition solutions; and Brian Winters (formerly of corporate merchandising) will be the category directory for single-serve candy/gum/mints, single-serve beverage, single-serve salty snacks, single-serve cookies/crackers, books & magazines and tobacco and smoking.
Austin Johnson will serve as VP for personal consumables in the new alignment. Johnson’s most recent job at Albertsons was as director of merchandising and marketing for the retailer’s Seattle division. Reporting to Johnson will be: Eric Baldwin (formerly of the Denver division), who will oversee oral hygiene, eye/ear care, foot care and hosiery/socks; Lindsay Cummings (formerly of corporate merchandising), who will manage skin care and cosmetics; Kamal Persad (formerly of the Mid-Atlantic division) who will supervise shave needs, hair care and deodorant/antiperspirant; Jeanette Rodriguez (formerly of the Northern California division), who will direct baby care, adult care and feminine hygiene/family planning; and Ron Scheuber (formerly of corporate merchandising), who will handle respiratory, first-aid, pain relief, vitamins, and digestive health.
The national category VP for ingredients is Demetri Pantazes, who most recently served as corporate VP of grocery vendor management and was based in Boise. Reporting to Pantazes will be: Joe Escobar (formerly of the Jewel-Osco division) will supervise pasta/pasta sauce, ready-to eat-prepared foods, prepared side dishes and soups; John LaFreniere (formerly of the United Supermarkets division) will oversee syrups/pancake/waffle, dessert/baking mixes, milk canned/powdered and flour/sugar/cornmeal; Allison Morris (formerly of formerly of Walmart) will direct shortening/oil/spray, salt/seasoning, and desserts; Ashley Odom (formerly of the Southern California division) will manage enhancements, pickles/peppers/relish and mayo/dressings/toppings; Joel Ortiz (formerly of the Northern California division) will be the national category director for Hispanic foods, Asian foods and rice and beans; Tim Puckett (formerly of corporate merchandising) will manage canned vegetables, canned fruit/applesauce, and canned fish/meat; and James Straling (also formerly of corporate merchandising) will control coffee/tea/hot cocoa, shelf-stable juices and drinks.
The national category VP for frozen/dairy will be Teresa Whitney, who most recently served as Albertsons VP-merchandising and marketing for its Boise division. Assisting her as national category managers will be: Gina Kostkowski (formerly of the Seattle division) will direct frozen vegetables, frozen fruit, frozen desserts and frozen juices; Mac McCoy (formerly of corporate merchandising) will supervise prepared frozen foods (single-serve, multi-family and multi-component); Gary Milam (formerly of the Southern division) will manage prepared frozen foods (snacks, pizza, others) and frozen breakfasts; Justin Passut (formerly of Shaw’s and Star Market) will oversee ice cream; Ron Schwenn (formerly of Jewel-Osco) will handle refrigerated foods (excluding shell eggs), refrigerated juice drinks and cheese; Courtney Talbott (formerly of Walmart) will oversee pre-packaged meats (luncheon meat, refrigerated meat snacks, franks, breakfast sausage, bacon); and Brian Watson (formerly of the Southwest division) will serve as national category director of refrigerated dairy excluding milk (e.g. yogurt).
These moves become effective on July 25 and Albertsons is expected to announce another level of assistant category directors in the next few weeks. Even though the activities surrounding this new center store centralized merchandising platform will be based at corporate headquarters in Boise, none of the associates who have been selected to be part of this national center store team will have to relocate from their current locations.
According to several sources, Albertsons had been toying with the idea of centralizing its core center store merchandising for more than a year. Those sources told us the driver behind the move was CEO Vivek Sankaran, who spent nearly 11 years in leadership roles with PepsiCo before becoming Albertsons’ chief executive in 2019. He is reportedly a firm believer in the theory that deploying a centralized format for high-volume brands will help provide better leverage and scale for Albertsons. We’re told that Albertsons hopes to save more than $100 million in the first year alone.
In an unrelated move, but one that will impact Albertsons’ broader merchandising and marketing direction in the future, was last month’s announcement that the big merchant had named former PepsiCo executive Jennifer Saenz as its new EVP and chief merchandising officer. That move became effective on July 12, 2021. In her new position, Saenz will be responsible for all areas of merchandising within the company, including “own brands.” She will also be responsible for further strengthening the company’s relationships with its brand partners. Saenz will join the Albertsons senior leadership team and report to directly to Sankaran. Most recently she served as PepsiCo’s global chief marketing officer and president of the company’s global foods with responsibility for a $30 billion PepsiCo Foods portfolio. Geoff White, currently Albertsons’ EVP and chief merchandising officer, remains with the company but is currently on a leave of absence.