Campbell Replaces Burns as Food Lion Prez

In a shakeup at Delhaize America’s flagship Food Lion banner, Cathy Green Burns has been replaced by Beth Newlands Campbell as president.

Campbell (left) will transition from president of Delhaize sister banner Hannaford Supermarkets to her new role, which will also include running the Harvey’s chain. Roland Smith, CEO of Salisbury, N.C.-based Delhaize America, a division of the Delhaize Group in Brussels, didn’t indicate a specific reason for the change, but published reports point to Delhaize America’s plummeting stock value, which has declined by more than 30 percent this year.

Burns’ departure follows on the heels of a number of other restructuring moves made by Delhaize America this year aimed at providing what the company describes as “greater clarity of responsibility and accountability, and improve[d] results across the organization.” Earlier this year, Food Lion revealed that it would shutter 100-plus stores and simultaneously launched a rebranding strategy.

Having started her career at Scarborough, Maine-based Hannaford as a clerk and bagger and rising through the ranks to become a VP, Burns transitioned to Food Lion’s N.C. headquarters office in 2002 and held a number of managerial positions until she became president in February 2010. Burns often appeared in Food Lion TV commercials, positioning herself as a working mom trying to balance career and home concerns.

Up until now, Campbell, who is relocating to North Carolina, had spent her entire professional career with Hannaford, which she joined almost 25 years ago in the retail management training program. At the banner, she rose from an assistant store manager to a store manager and a district manager, and also held managerial roles in human relations and marketing.

In her new role, Campbell will head all Food Lion banner operations, among them strategic direction, financial performance, product assortment, pricing, customer service, and marketing. She will report to Smith and

Delhaize’s organizational changes, which became effective immediately, included the consolidation of several positions. Rather than have presidents heading the company’s separate grocery chains, there will now be just two presidents, Campbell and Brad Wise, formerly SVP of human resources at Delhaize America, each in charge of two banners, in Wise’s case, Hannaford and Sweetbay Supermarket.

Additional changes were as follows:

• Mike Vail, formerly president of Sweetbay, has become chief supply chain officer for Delhaize America.
• Greg Amoroso, formerly SVP of the Business Service Center and sustainability, has become CFO of Delhaize America.
• David Criscione, SVP of strategy, marketing and business development at Hannaford, has become chief strategy and development officer for Delhaize America.

Three other executives -- Bottom Dollar Food President Meg Ham, Delhaize America SVP of Legal and Government Affairs Linn Evans, and Delhaize America Chief Information Officer Deborah Dixson – are retaining their current positions.

“The results of the structural changes involve significant movement for individuals who have held top leadership positions within Delhaize America and its companies for some time,” Christy Phillips-Brown, the company’s director, external communications & community relations, told Progressive Grocer. "As with everything we do, the decisions we announced to our associates … were made in the best interests of our customers, associates and shareholders.”