SpartanNash’s Masiar Tayebi adds CIO title

SpartanNash has promoted Masiar Tayebi to executive vice president and chief strategy and information officer.

With the move, Tayebi now oversees SpartanNash’s IT operations, development and strategy in addition to his current role as corporate chief strategy officer, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based grocery distributor said Monday.

Tayebi (pictured left) joined SpartanNash in April 2021 as executive VP and chief strategy officer, at the time a newly created position. In adding chief information officer duties, he takes over from previous CIO Arif Dar, who left the company at the end of September. SpartanNash had disclosed Dar’s departure in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission at the end of August.

“SpartanNash is more focused than ever on being the most customer-focused, innovative food solutions company,” SpartanNash CEO Tony Sarsam said in a statement. “Our innovation through technology goes hand-in-hand with the overall strategy of the company, making Masiar a natural leader for the IT function moving forward. He brings more than two decades of experience connecting strategy, technology, innovation and execution to drive growth and transformational change.”

Tayebi came to SpartanNash from Whirlpool Corp., where he most recently served as global head of corporate strategy and business development. His more than three-year tenure at Whirlpool included serving as chief operating officer of its subsidiary Yummly, a digital food platform offering personalized recipes, recipe search and online grocery delivery, for which he helped triple the base of users to 23 million.

Related:SpartanNash sees ongoing growth in Q2

Prior to joining Whirlpool, Tayebi spent 15 years in financial services and management consulting. From 2007 to 2014, he served as an executive director at UBS, where he defined and executed strategic objectives related to acquisitions, technology-driven innovation and multimillion-dollar organizational transformations, according SpartanNash. His roles there included chief technology officer for the Americas as well as global head of change management for the asset management division. Before that, he held consulting positions focused on strategy and transformational change for Fortune 500 companies, including at PwC Consulting, Salience and Andersen Business Consulting.

SpartanNash has made a series of C-suite appointments this year, including Nicole Zube as chief human resources officer last month; Jean-Paul Calabio to chief information security officer, a newly created position, in June; David Sisk to chief customer officer, a newly created post, in March; David Petko, chief supply chain officer, to executive vice president in March; Bennett Morgan to chief merchandising officer in January; and Amy McClellan to chief marketing officer in January.

Related:SpartanNash readies companywide hiring blitz