Foran is assembling a leadership team focused on stores, digital operations, and workforce execution.
Kroger is bringing in veteran Walmart and Asda operator Mark Ibbotson to lead store operations as CEO Greg Foran continues reshaping the company around a familiar formula: better stores, simpler processes and stronger execution.
Ibbotson, who becomes executive vice president and chief store operations officer on September 14, brings extensive experience in store productivity, technology and omnichannel retail. More important than the résumé, however, is what his appointment says about Foran’s priorities.
Foran has spent his first months looking at Kroger from the store level up. After visiting more than 100 locations, he has repeatedly pointed to the need to improve the customer experience, simplify processes, and make the company’s value proposition easier for shoppers to understand.
The strategy is increasingly taking shape around what Foran calls Kroger’s “five Fs”: fresh, fast, personalized, friendly, and affordable.
The first four are largely operational. Freshness must improve both at the shelf and when products reach customers’ homes. Stores need faster service and better in-stock performance. Digital and in-store experiences must become more personalized, while associates need better tools and training to provide friendlier service.
“Affordable” is the economic piece tying the model together. Foran has said Kroger has opportunities to sharpen pricing and simplify promotions, with productivity improvements and cost savings helping finance investments in price and customer service.
Ibbotson’s background would seem to serve that agenda well.
He spent more than a decade at Asda, eventually becoming chief operating officer, before joining Walmart U.S. in 2015. His responsibilities there included store operations, productivity, real estate and the development of Walmart’s grocery pickup and delivery capabilities – experience that aligns with Kroger’s need to more closely integrate its physical and digital businesses.
That integration is becoming steadily more important. Kroger reported 19% growth in adjusted e-commerce sales during the first quarter, while profit from its Kroger Precision Marketing retail media business increased more than 20%. At the same time, Foran has emphasized the need to improve the economics and execution of the core store business.
He inherited a company with extensive physical and digital assets but also an e-commerce operation undergoing a significant reset. Kroger recorded a $2.5 billion impairment related to its automated fulfillment network in 2025 and subsequently completed a strategic review designed to improve e-commerce operating profit by $400 million in 2026.
Foran’s response has centered on retail fundamentals rather than another sweeping store concept.
Kroger plans to accelerate new-store development and renovations, evaluate smaller and midsized formats, expand profitable third-party delivery, and use technology and artificial intelligence to provide stores with better information and associates with simpler tools.
Ibbotson is the latest addition to a leadership team being organized around that operating agenda.
Kroger recently named former Jet.com and Walmart executive Nate Faust chief e-commerce officer and former McDonald’s executive Emilee De Martino chief people officer. Together, the appointments strengthen the company’s leadership across stores, digital operations and workforce execution.
The structure reflects Foran’s broader approach. Faust is responsible for improving the digital business. De Martino brings experience in organizational transformation, culture and employee development. Ibbotson will focus on how Kroger’s stores operate and how its physical network supports the company’s omnichannel strategy.
The results ought to be visible in the stores: better in-stocks and fresh execution, faster checkout, simpler promotions, more productive associates, and stronger digital fulfillment.
Ibbotson’s appointment suggests the next phase of Foran’s transformation will concentrate on the place where those priorities ultimately meet: the store.