Dive Brief:
- Grocery Outlet on Tuesday named Paul Miller, a former executive at the company, as chief purchasing and merchandising officer and promoted Ian Ferry to CFO.
- Christopher Miller, who has served as the discounter’s CFO since the start of 2025, will retire on June 26. Matthew Delly, who has worked as chief merchandising and purchasing officer since early 2026 after joining the company last year, will depart on Friday.
- The discounter said the C-suite changes will support its continued work to return to long-term profitable growth and strengthen its operations.
Dive Insight:
Grocery Outlet is tapping people familiar with the discounter to head up key departments as it works to improve its financial footing.
Paul Miller spent more than 25 years at Grocery Outlet before retiring in 2024. He continued to stay involved with the company as an advisor, helping the discounter boost its shopping experience and sourcing, per the press release.
As chief purchasing and merchandising officer, Paul Miller will head up the discounter’s integrated purchasing and merchandising organization. Grocery Outlet noted in the press release that he played a key role in the company’s success during his previous tenure.
Ferry most recently served as senior vice president of strategic finance, investor relations and treasurer at Grocery Outlet. The move into the CFO role marks the third promotion for Ferry since joining the discounter in June 2025 as vice president of investor relations and treasurer. Prior to Grocery Outlet, Ferry was chief investment officer of Jackson Square Partners, LLC, an investment firm.
“As we strengthen Grocery Outlet and continue our efforts to restore sustainable, profitable growth, we are fortunate to add two proven and accomplished leaders to our executive leadership team,” Grocery Outlet President and CEO Jason Potter said in a statement.
Grocery Outlet noted in a securities filing that it promoted Susan Leary to senior vice president of accounting and that the company’s board designated Leary as its principal accounting officer.
These are the latest C-suite changes since Potter departed from The Fresh Market to become head of Grocery Outlet in early 2025. Later that year, the company hired Frank Kerr, previously chief customer officer at Lidl US, as its chief store operations officer and tapped Scott Fremont, a former Target veteran, as its chief supply chain officer.
In announcing its leadership changes, Grocery Outlet reaffirmed its financial outlook for the second quarter and fiscal year 2026. For this fiscal year, the company expects net sales to range between $4.6 billion and $4.72 billion and for comparable-store sales to range from -2% to flat.
