Albertsons Cos. Names Danielle Crop Chief Data Officer

Albertsons Cos. of Boise, Idaho, has hired Danielle Crop to fill the new role of SVP and chief data officer. The newly created position marks an “exciting step change and acceleration in the journey to leverage data strategically for the enterprise,” the company said. Crop was most recently chief data officer for American Express.

Crop will be responsible for building and executing a world-class central data strategy that delivers benefits for the customer regardless of whether they shop in-store or on the company’s digital platforms, the company said. Crop’s work will use machine learning and advanced data science capabilities to enhance performance across Albertsons’ businesses and markets.

Albertsons Cos. President and CEO Vivek Sankaran has spoken often of late about the company’s “transformation,” identifying an accelerated e-commerce agenda and hiring top talent in “critical areas” as two of its four pillars. 

“Today, excellence in delighting customers can be quantified as knowing what they want before they do and having the capability to deliver it when they want it, no matter how they shop,” said Chris Rupp, EVP and chief digital officer for Albertsons, in a statement. “How we translate what we get from data into an enhanced customer experience will further differentiate us as a locally great and nationally strong retailer.

“Danielle’s work has been at the intersection of data and the customer experience for the majority of her career, and we are excited to have a leader of her caliber to guide Albertsons Cos.’ customer experience into the future,” Rupp added.

Throughout Crop’s 15 years at American Express, she was at the forefront of the company’s data science efforts. Her background includes extensive experience in analytics, data management, modeling and digital experimentation, as well as scaled agile digital transformation and product management. 

In her most recent role as chief data officer, Crop was responsible for realizing the potential of American Express’ data assets to create the “world’s best customer experience.” She led multidisciplinary and globally dispersed teams that were responsible for the platforms that created, managed, governed, stored and shared American Express
data assets.