Safeway Names Brian Baer President of Dominick's

Safeway Inc. has officially named Brian Baer as president of its Chicago-area Dominick's Finer Foods division.

"Brian has proven himself ideally-suited for the leadership role at Dominick's," said Steve Burd, Safeway's chairman, president, and CEO, Steve Burd. "He has demonstrated himself to be a well-rounded executive who will serve this operating division well going forward.

Baer had been acting president of Dominick's, and assumed the permanent role in late 2011. He's has been with Dominick's parent company Safeway since 2001, when he joined the organization as the VP of finance for Safeway's Phoenix Division. In 2002, he joined the corporate office and was appointed to group VP of financial planning and analysis, leading the development of the company's key financial processes, performance indicators, financial planning and forecasting for Safeway's centralized marketing unit. During that time, he initiated and led a number of key initiatives while working with the company's senior management team. In 2008, he was named CFO at Dominick's where he continued to demonstrate his leadership and business acumen.

Prior to joining Safeway, Baer spent more than 12 years with the Marriott Corp.'s Food & Beverage and Retail operations, progressing upward through various financial management positions in operations, corporate finance and real estate development. Before Marriott, he also held positions with The Carlyle Group and Price-Waterhouse Coopers.

Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway Inc. operates 1,678 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $43.6 billion in 2011