Albertsons elevates Geoff White

Albertsons Cos. has promoted Geoff White to executive vice president and chief merchandising officer. White had been president of the retailer’s Own Brands, its private brands program.

Under White’s leadership, Own Brands penetration grew from 23.0% in fiscal year 2017 to 25.3% in the company's most recently reported quarter. O Organics and Open Nature represent 23.6% of the total natural and organic sales at Albertsons Cos., a 152 basis point growth from the first quarter of fiscal year 2018. In 2018, the Own Brands team launched Signature RESERVE, an ultra-premium label that features globally sourced ingredients.

“Geoff is a customer-centric leader who brings a unique combination of creativity and analytics to achieve growth,” said Vivek Sankaran, president and CEO of Albertsons Cos. “I look forward to working with him to transform our merchandising capabilities.”

White began his career with the company as a general clerk at Safeway in Burnaby, British Columbia, in 1981. He eventually became director of Canadian produce operations for 210 stores. He held leadership roles in produce, dairy, frozen, deli/food service, produce, floral and branded concepts at the Safeway corporate office from 2004 to 2015. In 2015, he was named senior vice president of marketing and merchandising for the Northern California division. In 2017, he was appointed president of the company’s Own Brands team.

White appeared on the cover of the January issue of Store Brands in a story about Albertsons Cos.’s successful store brand program.

Last month, Albertsons Cos. announced that Shane Sampson, a longtime key executive at the retailer, was resigning as chief marketing and merchandising officer. Sampson's last day was Sept. 7.

Albertsons Cos. operates stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia under 20 well-known banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs, as well as meal kit company Plated based in New York City.