Dive Brief:
- Long-time Kroger executive Jamie Lancaster announced on LinkedIn on Friday that he is departing from the company after 18 years.
- Lancaster has been Kroger’s global vice president of the Kroger Capability Center, a newer initiative focused on increasing productivity, for the past year, and previously held numerous senior leadership roles overseeing the company’s business administration operations, according to his LinkedIn profile.
- Lancaster is at least the second Kroger executive to leave since the grocer appointed Greg Foran as CEO in February.
Dive Insight:
Lancaster led the establishment of the Kroger Capability Center during his year as the company’s global vice president of the business unit, focusing “on innovative partnerships with business leaders” and “enhanc[ing] operational efficiency and customer service,” he wrote on his LinkedIn profile.
He joined Kroger in 2008 to serve as senior director of technology application services, a position he held for three years. Kroger’s chief information officer then appointed Lancaster to senior director of the office of the CIO, according to his LinkedIn bio. After another three years, he became vice president of indirect sourcing before being named by Kroger’s then-CEO Rodney McMullen to vice president of general and administrative optimization.
Before becoming global vice president of Kroger Capability Center, Lancaster spent seven years as the grocer’s vice president of contact center of excellence and shared services, per his LinkedIn profile.
Kroger did not respond by press time with additional details on Lancaster’s departure.
Lancaster is not the first Kroger executive to depart from the company since Foran was named CEO early this year. In April, Associated Wholesale Grocers appointed Joe Kelley, Kroger’s former senior vice president of retail divisions, as its chief operating officer.
