The Kroger Co. has consolidated its Dallas and Houston divisions into a newly formed Texas Division with Rudy DiPietro at the helm, effective Aug. 1.
DiPietro, who was named Dallas Division president in March following the retirement of Keith Shoemaker, will report to Valerie Jabbar, SVP of retail divisions.
The change follows the retirement of Laura Gump, president of Kroger’s Houston Division, after 38 years in the grocery retail industry and five years as a Kroger division leader.
The Texas Division consists of more than 210 stores and 26,000 employees in North, East and Southeast Texas and West, Central and Southwest Louisiana.
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Over the course of his 21-year career with Ahold Delhaize USA, DiPietro held a variety of leadership roles across many of the organization’s family of brands. Most recently, he served as VP of omnichannel planning and execution.
He previously served the Stop & Shop brand as the VP of omnichannel merchandising planning and execution and SVP of sales and operations.
Prior to that, he held leadership roles with the Food Lion and Hannaford brands, including VP of merchandising for Food Lion and 2020 strategy VP and VP of retail operations for the Hannaford Western Division.
“Simplifying into a single Texas division is a strategic decision to create more efficiencies, which allows the team to run great stores with lower prices and deeper investments in our associates,” Jabbar said.
“We are confident that Rudy’s leadership and experience will bring together the two teams to create an even better shopping experience for our Texas customers.”
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