Albertsons will have a new CEO. She’s from Denver.
Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette
Albertsons, the parent company of Safeway, will soon have a new CEO who’s grocery career began in Denver.
The company’s Chief Operating Officer Susan Morris will succeed Albertsons’ current CEO Vivek Sankaran, the grocer announced Monday.
Sankaran plans to retire and Morris will take over May 1, Albertsons said in a news release.
The announcement follows shortly after Kroger, now in a legal battle with Albertsons over their failed merger, is investigating its CEO Rodney McMullen over “personal conduct,” leading to his resignation.
Morris began her career in high school at 16 working as an Albertsons customer service clerk in Denver.
She went to Colorado State University and continued to work throughout college with the grocer.
Albertsons Chief Operating Officer Susan Morris was just named the company's new CEO.
Courtesy photo, Albertstons
Albertsons Chief Operating Officer Susan Morris was just named the company’s new CEO.
After she graduated, she went to the grocer’s division office on Tower Road and was responsible for data entry for pricing of Colorado stores. She worked her way to run the Denver division and then went to the Intermountain Division in charge of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana stores.
In 2018, she was promoted to the top ranks of Albertsons as COO.
“The board is confident that Susan is the ideal person to lead the company into its next chapter of growth,” said Jim Donald, chair of Albertsons Board of Directors, in a news release. “With a nearly 40-year career at the company that began at an Albertsons store in the Denver market, Susan brings unmatched expertise and deep knowledge of the business.”
Her Denver background was a frequent point brought forth by Kroger’s and Albertsons’ defense of its divestiture throughout the trial in Colorado against their merger that has since fallen apart.
Morris was supposed to run the divested Safeway stores under C&S Wholesalers, with the grocers’ arguing she’s a seasoned executive with local roots and expertise in retail operations, Kroger attorney Matt Wolf said in his opening argument — not real estate liquidation.
Instead, Morris will take over Albertsons and join its board of directors.
“Albertsons Cos. has an incredibly bright future and the best team in the business – I am energized about the many opportunities that lie ahead,” Morris said in the release.