The Kroger Co has appointed Greg Foran as CEO, concluding an extensive search process that lasted for nearly a year.
The appointment, effective immediately, confirms earlier reports and speculation.
According to the company, Foran brings over 40 years of experience leading large, complex consumer businesses through periods of transformation, growth, and digital adoption.
He was previously CEO of Walmart US from 2014 to 2019, where he oversaw a turnaround of the company’s largest division. During his tenure, he delivered positive comparable sales growth for 20 consecutive quarters and managed more than 4600 stores.
Foran, a native New Zealander, was most recently CEO of Air New Zealand from 2020 to last October.
Foran will also join Kroger’s board of directors. His appointment marked the end of a search process that began last March, when former CEO Rodney McMullen resigned over ethics breaches.
Ron Sargent, who had served as interim CEO, will continue to be chairman of the board to ensure a smooth transition. The company will provide an additional update on the leadership transition during its March 5 earnings call.
‘Exactly what Kroger needs’
Neil Saunders, MD of GlobalData, said the appointment of Foran to the top spot at Kroger is exactly what the grocery giant needs.
“While Kroger is a huge and successful business, it is one that has lacked energy and vision for quite some time. Recently, this has translated into a loss of market share. And it is something that Kroger can ill afford as it undermines the volume needed to make the business model work,” he said.
According to the analyst, the company needs to stand out more in an increasingly crowded field, and the top priority is to create a much sharper point of view on price, assortment, and store experience.
“Greg Foran has the skills and experience required for this task. He also has a very strong operational mindset, which will be helpful for rebuilding the e-commerce and logistics side of the chain – both of which have been neglected,” Saunders said.
“Best of all, Greg Foran brings an outside perspective. For too long, Kroger has been very introspective and has lacked the momentum needed to keep it on top,” he added.
New Zealand was a detour
Victoria Young, a senior reporter at New Zealand news agency BusinessDesk, described Foran’s time at Air New Zealand as “less of a destination and more of a detour”.
While Covid was partly the reason, Foran’s return home from Walmart already meant a $16 million pay cut, Young wrote. He later had to cut jobs, and pay, including his own, as part of his first tasks after joining the company.
Foran took home about $7 million in total during his time at Air New Zealand in 2020 to last June. The last few months of his pay from June to October, when he officially stepped down, was not disclosed.
Meanwhile, former Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen took home $15.63 million in his final year at the company.
Foran said during an interview with Newstalk ZB earlier this week that his timing was “impeccable” and that he was pleased to take the job at Air New Zealand.
“It made me a better leader. I’ve had to learn some new things. I’ve had to deal with some issues I would never have had to deal with at Walmart or Woolworths, and that puts me in a better position, I think, to do a better job at Kroger,” he said.
