One day after Geoff White left his position as Albertsons Cos.' SVP of Own Brands to become the grocer's EVP and chief merchandising officer, the company has announced Chad Coester will fill the role.
Coester was the GVP of sales and marketing for the Own Brands team, and he will now lead the company's portfolio of private label products. Own Brands consists of nearly 11,000 products across 550 categories. Earlier this year, Albertsons announced how its reinventing the Signature Select store brands.
"Chad brings infectious energy to everything he does," says White. "His versatile background and deep commitment to innovation will serve him well as he leads our extraordinarily talented Own Brands team."
Coester led national marketing and merchandising campaigns for brands such as O Organics and Open Nature. Prior to his position on the Albertsons Own Brands team, he held positions in procurement, ecommerce operations and marketing systems and processes.
Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons operates stores in 34 states and the District of Columbia under 20 well-known banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs, as well as New York-based meal-kit company Plated. The company is No. 3 on PG’s 2019 Super 50 list of the top grocer in the United States.