Supervalu Revamps Executive Ranks

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu here said Monday it has named several new executives, including a new chief executive officer at its Save-A-Lot division.

At the corporate level, three new executives were named, effective immediately:

Mark Van Buskirk

• Mark Van Buskirk was named executive vice president, merchandising and marketing, overseeing companywide retail merchandising and marketing efforts, along with directing Supervalu’s private brand offerings and retail pharmacy teams. He spent the past 20 years with Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., most recently as vice president, meat and seafood merchandising and procurement.

• Rob Woseth was named executive vice president and chief strategy officer. In addition to overseeing real estate and corporate development, he will focus on identifying strategic growth opportunities that support independent grocers, as well as working with banner leadership to build and maximize the company’s traditional and discount retail businesses. He spent the past 10 years in business development, strategy and leadership positions with Albertsons Inc. and Albertsons LLC.

Steve Fox

• Steve Fox was named senior vice president, food merchandising, reporting to Van Buskirk. He spent the last 41 years in retail leadership positions with Fred Meyer Inc., a division of Kroger. During his tenure with Fred Meyer, Fox spent 10 years as vice president of produce merchandising/procurement and 11 years as vice president of grocery merchandising/procurement.

Ritchie Casteel

At Save-A-Lot, Ritchie Casteel was named chief executive officer, succeeding Santiago Roces, who is leaving the company. Casteel has more than 40 years of experience in retail, including over 30 years in a variety of leadership positions with the original Albertsons Inc., where he last was vice president of operations for Albertsons’ Intermountain West Division. Casteel also was director of sales and operations for Grocery Outlet from 2005-2009, where he worked closely with independent owner operators to improve sales, margin, shrink, marketing, expense controls and financial balance.

At the other corporate banners:

Eric Hymas

• Eric Hymas was named president of Shop ‘N Save, succeeding Marlene Gebhard. Hymas most recently was senior vice president of merchandising for Supervalu, which included responsibility for all categories across center store, as well as beverages, fuel and convenience, and fresh departments.

• Bill Parker was named president, Farm Fresh, after serving for the past seven months in the role of interim president.

In addition, Brian Audette will continue as president of Cub Foods; Matt Leiseth will continue as president of Hornbacher’s; and Bob Bly will continue as president of Shoppers.

Leaving Supervalu at the completion of the pending sale of most of Supervalu’s retail operations transaction to the Cerberus-led investor group will be Kevin Holt, president of Supervalu Retail; Tim Lowe, executive vice president, merchandising; and Michael Moore, executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

Read more: Plenty of Work Ahead for Supervalu's Duncan

“I thank Kevin for his leadership over our retail teams, as well as Tim and Michael for the work they have done leading our retail merchandising and marketing efforts, respectively,” said Sam Duncan, who recently joined Supervalu as CEO. “They have helped ready the business for the future and I appreciate all they have done to ensure a smooth transition. I wish each of them well with their future endeavors.”

Supervalu said it expected to make additional announcements in the coming weeks as Duncan continues to finalize his leadership team.

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