Dive Brief:
- Kroger announced Wednesday that Mark Ibbotson will join the grocer as executive vice president and chief store operations officer on Sept. 14.
- A former top executive at Walmart, Ibbotson brings decades of tech and operations experience, including leading the rollout of the mass retailer’s e-commerce platform. He most recently served as a senior advisor for consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
- Ibbotson’s hire comes as Kroger looks to sharpen its store operations and value proposition under new CEO Greg Foran.
Dive Insight:
With the appointment of Ibbotson, Kroger is welcoming yet another Walmart veteran to its C-suite.
Ibbotson and Foran both held high-level positions at Walmart at the same time. Foran served as president and CEO of Walmart U.S. from 2014 to 2019, while Ibbotson joined the retailer in 2015 as senior vice president of innovation.
Ibbotson was later named Walmart’s executive vice president of central operations and realty, a role that gave him oversight of the company’s store operations, real estate, asset protection and central aspects of its digital processes. He departed in 2020 and became a strategic advisor to retail and technology companies.
Ibbotson moved to Walmart after serving in multiple roles for U.K. grocery chain Asda, including chief operating officer. In that position, he was responsible for hundreds of stores, expanded e-commerce capabilities and introduced pickup and drive-through services. Before joining Asda in 2004, Ibbotson worked for Sainsbury’s, a London-based supermarket operator where he began his career in retail.
Ibbotson will start his job at Kroger just two weeks after Nate Faust, another former senior Walmart executive, joined the grocer as its first chief e-commerce officer.
Kroger noted that Ibbotson has built a reputation “as an operations specialist and innovator in omnichannel retail.”
“Mark has done this work at scale, and he has done it exceptionally well,” Foran said in a statement. “He knows what it takes to simplify complex operations, bring out the best in frontline teams, and build the digital and physical capabilities that win with customers. That is what we need as we accelerate our momentum and build America's Best Grocer.”
Ibbotson will be Kroger’s first chief store operations officer since 2021, when Mike Donnelly, who had served as chief operations officer for three years, retired, according to a spokesperson for the grocer.
Ibbotson’s deep experience running supermarkets aligns with Foran’s strategy to bolster Kroger’s sales. Foran, who was named CEO of Kroger in February, has made clear that he believes the grocer needs to improve the store experience to compete more effectively and better satisfy customers.
“When a customer is deciding where to shop, we want more of them choosing Kroger more often because the value is clear, the experience is great and the trust is there,” Foran said during Kroger’s first-quarter earnings call in June.
