The Kroger Co. has promoted SVP of Operations Mary Ellen Adcock to chief merchandising and marketing officer, succeeding Stuart Aitken, who is stepping down as SVP, chief merchandising and marketing officer to pursue other professional opportunities. Aitken will remain in his role at Kroger through Dec. 31.
“Mary Ellen is a respected leader both within Kroger and our industry,” said Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO.
“Her deep strategic experience in her past 25 years with Kroger in roles of increasing responsibility will continue to drive value for customers and growth for our business and associates.”
Continuing in their current roles as leaders of the company’s operations are SVPs of Retail Operations Valarie Jabbar and Kenny Kimball, who oversee Kroger operating divisions, and Group VP of Retail Operations Paula Kash, who leads enterprise retail operations, which includes asset protection, corporate food technology and e-commerce operations. They will now report to McMullen.
“On behalf of the Kroger board and management team, I want to thank Stuart for his work to evolve Kroger’s brand while bringing exciting, innovating products to our shelves,” McMullen said. “He played an instrumental role in overseeing dunnhumby’s integration and establishing 84.51º. We wish Stuart and his family all the best as they embark on a new chapter.”
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Adcock had served as Kroger’s SVP of operations since 2019, leading strategic operations for the company’s more than 2,700 stores across 35 states and supporting more than 416,000 associates and serving 11 million customers every day. She oversaw customer and associate experience, asset protection, process change and productivity improvement initiatives and was responsible for maintaining food safety and regulatory standards.
Adcock delivered more than $1 billion in annual operations savings for six consecutive years. This focus on efficiency improvements provided Kroger the ability to reinvest those savings to lower prices for customers and increase wages for employees. Adcock achieved this efficiency goal while also improving the customer and associate experience by developing Kroger’s “Full, Fresh & Friendly: Every Customer Every Time” program.
Adcock also played a lead role in operationalizing Zero Hunger | Zero Waste, Kroger’s commitment to end hunger in the communities it serves and eliminate waste as a company. She led the organization in achieving 100 percent store participation in its surplus food rescue program for the first time.
Adcock joined Kroger in 1999 in the company’s manufacturing division, where she held a variety of leadership positions. In 2009, she was promoted to VP of deli/bakery manufacturing, and in 2012, Adcock became VP of natural foods. In 2014, she led merchandising and operations for the Columbus division. Adcock was promoted to group VP of retail operations in 2016 and named to her previous position in 2019.
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