Stater Bros. Markets has shared several promotions within its executive leadership team, all of which will become effective Sept. 29, when President and COO Greg McNiff assumes the role of president and CEO.
Rebecca Calvin
Calvin has been elevated to EVP and CMO, adding oversight of the company’s supply chain to her marketing responsibilities.
Calvin began her career in the grocery industry as a category buyer with Daymon Worldwide. Before joining Stater Bros. in 2022 as SVP and CMO, she served in that same capacity at The Save Mart Companies and as VP of grocery, frozen and dairy at Mariano’s.
Calvin has a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in business adminstration from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. She also is a graduate of the Cornell University Food Executive Program and has Six Sigma Green Belt Certification.
Calvin serves as VP on the Western Association of Food Chains (WAFC) Board of Directors and is a co-chair of the Topco Operations Team.
Bertha Luna
Luna has been named EVP of store operations, overseeing all areas of retail store operations and assuming accountability for workforce planning, which includes labor budgeting, sales forecasting and store insights.
Luna began her career in the retail grocery industry as a courtesy clerk at Lucky Stores and joined the Stater Bros. team as a store manager during the company’s acquisition of Albertsons and Lucky Stores in 1999. Within a year, she had transitioned to a role in retail supervision, first as a retail grocery supervisor and then retail district manager.
After serving as director of diversity in the human resources department, she returned to the retail side in 2017, resuming the role of retail district manager before being promoted to senior director retail operations. She was elevated to SVP of retail operations in 2022.
Luna is a graduate of the University of Southern California (USC) Food Industry Executive Program. She serves as secretary on the California Grocers Association (CGA) Board of Directors Executive Committee and is a board member for Retail Marketing Services (RMS).
“Over the last several years, Rebecca and Bertha have cultivated a collaborative relationship that has benefited Stater Bros. immensely,” McNiff said.
“I look forward to working with them to build upon that collaborative spirit so that our company can continue providing fresh, affordable groceries and class-leading customer service for our communities.”
Mike Crawford
Crawford has been appointed as VP of strategic insights and process innovation. He will report to Calvin and be responsible for deriving data-driven consumer insights that power sales and grow customer count.
Crawford has been with Stater Bros. since 2000, when he began as a courtesy clerk. He joined the marketing department in 2012 as a category manager. He advanced through the roles of data manager, data/procurement manager and director merchandising/data before being promoted to director analytics in 2022.
In 2023, he was promoted to senior director of data analytics and insights, and became senior director of shrink and process improvement the following year.
Alex Lemos
Lemos has been promoted to VP of accounting. Reporting to SVP and CFO Mike Reed, he will lead all aspects of the company’s accounting, including financial reporting, accounts payable, accounts receivable and cash reporting.
His career with Stater Bros. began in 2014 as an assistant controller – support operations in the accounting/finance department. In 2018, he was promoted to controller – corporate operations and was elevated three years later to corporate controller. In 2023, he was promoted to senior controller.
Lemos has a master’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in finance from the University of Redlands and a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an accounting concentration from California State University San Bernardino.
Sonia Muñoz
Muñoz has been elevated to VP of employees relations. She will continue reporting to SVP of Human Resources Jerrold Coakley and be accountable for the company’s bargaining and non-bargaining groups while also leading major initiatives and projects focused on teammate engagement and productivity.
Muñoz began her career with Stater Bros. in 1994 as a courtesy clerk. After advancing through several positions at the store level, she transitioned to an HR assistant role in 2016. She was promoted to HR supervisor in 2014, followed by labor relations specialist in 2017.
The next year, Muñoz was promoted to manager labor relations and moved up to director labor relations in 2019. She was promoted to senior director employee relations in 2020.
She has a master’s degree in business administration from California State University San Bernardino and a bachelor’s degree in organizational management from the University of La Verne. In addition, she has completed the University of Southern California Food Industry Management Program and has a Certificate in Food Industry Management.
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