Albertsons has appointed Ken Rinaldi as regional operating president of the grocer’s newly created East Region, a company spokeswoman confirmed to Grocery Dive.
In his new role, Rinaldi leads a group that includes Albertsons’ Jewel-Osco and Shaw’s banners. Jewel-Osco runs 190 supermarkets in Illinois, Iowa and Indiana while Shaw’s encompasses 126 locations in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Vermont.
Rinaldi most recently served as president of the company’s Shaw’s and Star Market banners in the Northeast. He began his career bagging groceries for Star Market while in high school.
Albertsons’ East Region was formed in July when the company adopted a new operating model as part of an effort to improve its financial performance. The retailer’s revised structure consolidated its 11 former divisions into four regions, which also include California, West and South regions.
The retailer’s goal in switching to the simplified structure is to “sharpen accountability and strengthen execution in the areas that matter most to our customers: fresh service, store standards, local merchandising and community connection,” CEO Susan Morris said when the company announced the changes.
In addition, earlier this month, Albertsons announced that it had recruited former technology industry leader Meg Whitman to serve as executive chair.
In a stark reflection of the challenges Albertsons is confronting, the grocer posted a same-store sales decline during its latest quarter and said it expects that metric to be negative for all of fiscal 2026. Investors have reacted harshly to the company’s results, driving its stock price down by more than 30% since the start of 2026.
