Albertsons lands CVS veteran Tom Moriarty as general counsel

Tom Moriarty, executive vice president, chief policy and external affairs officer, and general counsel at CVS Health, is slated to join Albertsons Cos. next month as executive VP and general counsel, amid the grocer’s pending merger with The Kroger Co.

Plans call for Moriarty to start at Albertsons on June 5, the Boise, Idaho-based food and drug retailer said Friday. He will take over from Juliette Pryor, who served as executive VP, general counsel and corporate secretary at Albertsons but left the company in April to become chief legal officer and corporate secretary at home improvement retailer Lowe’s Cos., where she began her new role on May 3.

In commenting on his move to Albertsons, Moriarty noted the company’s strong pharmacy as well as grocery market presence. Overall, Albertsons operates 2,271 retail food stores, including 1,722 pharmacies, under two dozen banners in 34 states and the District of Columbia. He will report to CEO Vivek Sankaran.

“I am incredibly energized to be joining Albertsons Cos. at such a dynamic time for the industry,” Moriarty said in a statement. “One of the things that excites me most about this opportunity is the vital role that Albertsons Cos. plays in the communities it serves as a grocery and pharmacy retailer committed to its customers and their well-being.”

Tom Moriarty, incoming executive VP and general counsel at Albertsons Cos. / Photo courtesy of CVS

Moriarty has spent 11-and-a-half years at pharmacy and health care giant CVS Health, including approximately the past six-and-a-half years in his current role as executive VP, chief policy and external affairs officer, and general counsel. He started at CVS in January 2012 as executive VP and general counsel and two years later added the title of chief strategy officer. Also in January 2014, he became chairman of Red Oak Sourcing, a generic drug sourcing joint venture of CVS and pharmaceutical distributor Cardinal Health.

Before coming to CVS, Moriarty served in various roles over 12-plus years at pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions, most recently as president of global pharmaceutical strategies. He joined Medco after serving as assistant general counsel for pharma and North America at animal health care company Merial and, prior to that, as senior attorney at drug maker Merck. Medco Health Solutions was spun off into an independent company by Merck-Medco in 2003 and later acquired by PBM Express Scripts in 2012.

Albertsons noted that Moriarty’s 30-plus years of experience included oversight of legal and regulatory issues in CVS Health’s $78 billion acquisition of Aetna in late 2018. He also served as the company’s lead representative to the White House COVID-19 task force, as CVS provided testing, vaccinations and other health care services to millions of Americans. And while at Medco Health Solutions, Albertsons said, Moriarty played a key role in leading the merger with Express Scripts, at the time the largest health care transaction on record.

Albertsons is currently in the antitrust review phase of its $24.6 billion deal to be acquired by The Kroger Co., which would be the nation’s biggest supermarket merger ever.

“Tom is a proven leader whose broad background and deep understanding of corporate and legal strategy make him a welcome addition to our talented leadership team,” Sankaran stated. “His experience leading high-performing teams and successfully implementing important strategic initiatives at top companies will be invaluable as we continue to execute on our ‘Customers for Life’ strategy.”

COO Susan Morris joins board of IDACORP

In other Albertsons executive news, Susan Morris, executive VP and chief operations officer, has been named to the board of directors at IDACORP, a public holding company encompassing Idaho Power, a regulated electric utility; IDACORP Financial, a holder of affordable housing projects and other real estate investments; and Ida-West Energy, an operator of small hydroelectric generation projects.

Morris leads Albertsons’ retail operations, overseeing nearly 2,300 stores nationwide across such banners as Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings Food Markets and Balducci’s Food Lovers Market.

Susan Morris, executive VP and chief operations officer at Albertsons Cos. / Photo courtesy of Albertsons

She has served as executive VP and COO at Albertsons since January 2018, when she was promoted to the role after serving as executive VP of regional operations. Her more than 38 years of grocery retail experience has spanned a range of other leadership roles at the company, including division president in two markets as well as VP of marketing and merchandising.

Morris began her retail career in high school as a customer-service clerk at Albertsons in Denver and also spent nearly three-and-a-half years at Supervalu, including as senior VP of sales and merchandising. She currently serves on the boards of FMI-The Food Industry Association as vice chair of industry relations and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Salt Lake City branch