Albertsons Appoints CPG Vet Mary Beth West to Board of Directors

Mary Beth West, a veteran marketing executive of CPG giants including Kraft, Mondelez and The Hershey Co., has been appointed to the board of directors of Albertsons Cos., the company said.

Albertsons said West has “a proven track record of innovation and transformation across myriad facets of retail.”

She began her career at Kraft Foods, where she spent 21 years of working on some of the food industry’s most iconic brands such as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Oreo and Maxwell House coffee, and was named chief marketing officer in 2007. When Kraft Foods spun their snack foods division off in 2012, West went with the new company, Mondelez International, and served as EVP, chief category and marketing officer from 2012 to 2014.

West joined J.C. Penney Co. in 2015, after having served on their board of directors from November 2005 to May 2015. West was then tapped by The Hershey Co. in 2017 as its SVP and chief growth officer. At Hershey, West drove the company’s growth and marketing strategies as well as communication, disruptive innovation, research and development, and mergers and acquisitions, and ignited the transformation of the company’s offerings beyond chocolate into snack categories, retiring from the company in January 2020, Albertsons said.

West earned an MBA in marketing from Columbia University and a BS in management from Nazareth College in Rochester. She is currently a member of the board of directors of Hasbro Inc. a position she has held since June 2016.

West’s term with the board expires at Albertsons’ 2021 annual meeting of stockholders or until her successor is duly elected and qualified. She has been appointed to the nominating and corporate governance committee and to its compensation committee. 

“Mary Beth is one of the most accomplished leaders in marketing and retail today, and I am delighted to have her join our board of directors” said Vivek Sankaran, president and CEO of Albertsons. “Her expertise in the food industry as well as her skill in driving innovation and consumer engagement will lend added depth and dimension to how our team builds lasting relationships with our customers.”