Albertsons Names Susan Morris EVP/Chief Operations Officer

Susan Morris has been appointed EVP and COO of Albertsons Cos., in which she will oversee Albertsons’ supply chain, manufacturing and operations functions. Her appointment comes as the company’s president and COO, Wayne Denningham, prepares to retire near the end of the company’s fiscal year, after more than 40 years with the company, having started out as a teenage clerk.

“Susan is a talented leader within our company, and she fully embraces our entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to running really good stores,” said Bob Miller, chairman and CEO of Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons Cos. “Susan raised her hand to come to Albertsons LLC in 2010 when she was a SVP of sales and marketing for a competitor, and she took the only job we had open – a grocery sales manager in our Southwest division. She has proven herself to be a valuable part of our leadership team in readily accepting new challenges, developing others and bringing teams together, and I know that her broad experience will be of significant value to Albertsons Cos. as we move forward.”

Morris started out in Albertsons’ Denver division while still in high school and rose through the ranks over her 30-plus years in the grocery industry. She has held roles ranging from store director to corporate grocery sales director, VP of bakery and operations and, following the sale of Albertson’s Inc.’s assets to Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Supervalu, VP of customer satisfaction. In 2013, Morris became Intermountain division president after three years in the company’s Southwest division, and was appointed to lead the Denver division two years later. Morris was then named EVP, East operations in April 2016 and transitioned to lead West region operations in March 2017.

In her latest role, Morris, who has been honored as a Progressive Grocer Top Woman in Grocery twice, in 2009 and 2016, will continue to head the Seattle, Portland, Northern California and Southern California divisions. Jim Perkins, EVP operations and special projects, will remain as president of the Acme and Eastern divisions, while Mike Withers, EVP East region operations, will lead the other six divisions: Denver, Intermountain, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Southern, Southwest and United.

Morris will be based at Albertson’s Boise corporate campus.