Dana Zurcher, currently Dallas, Texas, division president, has been named president of The Kroger Co.’s Columbus, Ohio, division, effective May 1. She will be succeeded by Tom Schwilke, who joins Kroger with more than 35 years of retail leadership experience.
Zurcher succeeds Dan De La Rosa, who was recently named president of the King Soopers division. She will oversee 118 stores and more than 21,000 associates throughout central and northwest Ohio, as well as southeast Michigan and the Ohio River Valley.
“Dana has a long history of success throughout the Kroger Family of Companies, and we know she’ll continue to serve our customers exceptionally well as the leader of our Columbus division,” said Mike Donnelly, Kroger’s EVP and COO. “Her diverse operations and merchandising background will help us deliver our vision to serve America through food inspiration and uplift.”
Zurcher began her career with Kroger in 1985, in store management in Indianapolis, Indiana. She served in a number of roles while in the Central division, including store and district management and merchandising. In 2002, she moved to Phoenix as a district manager in the Fry’s division. In 2008, she was promoted to director of operations for the Ralphs division. She was promoted to VP of operations for the Mid-South division in 2011, and was later named to the same role in 2013 for the Southwest division. In 2015, she was named the first president of the Dallas division, her current role, when the Southwest division was divided into Dallas and Houston.
Zurcher has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Ball State University. She is the executive leader of Kroger’s Women’s EDGE associate resource group, which focuses on improving leadership opportunities for Kroger associates. Additionally, she serves on the boards of the Western Association of Food Chains and the North Texas Food Bank.
Schwilke will become president of the Dallas division May 1. The Dallas division comprises 110 stores across Dallas/Fort Worth, Northwest Louisiana and East Texas.
“We are pleased to welcome Tom to Kroger,” said Donnelly. “He is well respected throughout the retail industry, and we look forward to his proven leadership driving continued growth in our Dallas division.”
Schwilke comes to Kroger with 35 years of merchandising and retail leadership experience. Most recently, he was the president and general manager of the NorCal division of Safeway Inc., where he oversaw 283 stores and 35,000 associates. Prior to that role, he held a number of national leadership positions with the company, including president and general manager of perishables and group VP of produce and floral.
He returns to Texas, where from 2008 to 2010 he was the president and general manager of Safeway Inc.’s Texas division. He was responsible for overall operations of 111 Tom Thumb and Randalls stores in Dallas, Houston and Austin.
Schwilke has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Washington State University.
The Kroger Co. is based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
