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Albertsons Taps Former Amazon Exec to Lead Pharmacy and Health

Former Amazon, PepsiCo executive Omer Gajial named SVP. Omer Gajial joins the retailer after five years at Amazon and more than 15 at PepsiCo, continuing a remaking of the executive ranks.

Jon Springer, Executive Editor

September 22, 2020

1 Min Read
Albertsons storefront
Albertsons storefrontPhotograph Courtesy of Albertsons Cos.

Albertsons Cos. has added a new executive to its leadership team from Amazon as Omer Gajial joins the Boise, Idaho-based retailer as its new SVP of pharmacy and health.

Gajial since May 2018 was general manager of category development for Amazon, and prior to that was its softlines and consumables GM serving its Marketplace sellers beginning in 2016, according to Gajial's LinkedIn bio. Prior to that, Gajial spent more than 15 years in various roles at PepsiCo, including more than three years as a global strategy VP on its Walmart team.

Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran is also a veteran of Pepsi. Since joining Albertsons in 2019, Sankaran has made a number of high-profile leadership hires from outside its business.

In a LinkedIn post, Gajial thanked co-workers at the Seattle e-commerce giant. “While I will miss working with an incredible group of Amazonians, I am equally excited to reframe, scale and build new health and pharmacy solutions for millions of customers.”

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Albertsons Cos.

About the Author

Jon Springer

Executive Editor

Jon Springer is executive editor of Winsight Grocery Business with responsibility for leading its digital news team. Jon has more than 20 years of experience covering consumer business and retail in New York, including more than 14 years at the Retail/Financial desk at Supermarket News. His previous experience includes covering consumer markets for KPMG’s Insiders; the U.S. beverage industry for Beverage Spectrum; and he was a Senior Editor covering commercial real estate and retail for the International Council of Shopping Centers. Jon began his career as a sports reporter and features editor for the Cecil Whig, a daily newspaper in Elkton, Md. Jon is also the author of two books on baseball. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English-Journalism from the University of Delaware. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. with his family.

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