Grocery Vet Erik Keptner Joins Rite Aid as Chief Marketing/Merch Officer

Rite Aid Corp. has named longtime grocery industry executive Erik Keptner to the newly created position of SVP and chief marketing and merchandising officer, effective June 24. Responsible for all aspects of marketing and merchandising, Keptner will report to Rite Aid COO Bryan Everett.

“Erik is an experienced retail executive who has proven that he can integrate and manage all aspects of an organization’s marketing and merchandising assets to provide great customer experiences, operate efficiently and deliver growth,” noted Everett. “We’re excited to welcome Erik to our team as we continue to integrate our marketing and merchandising teams and enhance our omnichannel presence to deliver a seamlessly connected customer experience that drives growth. We will benefit tremendously from his knowledge and expertise as we accelerate these critical efforts.”

Keptner’s most recent role was SVP of marketing for Keasbey, N.J.,-based retailer cooperative Wakefern Food Corp. (No. 8 on Progressive Grocer’s Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States), in which capacity he led digital commerce and analytics, advertising, corporate merchandising, own brands, and digital media.

Before that, he spent 20 years at Carlisle, Pa.-based Ahold Delhaize USA (No. 4 on the Super 50) and its Giant Food Stores division, where he held various roles of increasing responsibility, among them EVP of marketing and SVP of sales, marketing and merchandising. While at Ahold, Keptner spearheaded efforts to improve the company’s loyalty program, ramp up digital marketing and ecommerce, evolve store formats and merchandising programs, and create a culture focused on making consumer-centric data-driven decisions.

Bill Renz, Rite Aid's SVP of category management who headed the marketing team as the company transitioned to a new organizational structure, will continue to play a key leadership role on the category management and merchandising teams.

Camp Hill, Pa.-based Rite Aid operates about 2,500 drug stores in 19 states.