Susan Morris appointed chief operations officer

BOISE, Idaho — Wayne Denningham, president and chief operating officer of Albertsons Cos., plans to retire near the end of the company’s fiscal year.

Albertsons also said Tuesday that it has named Susan Morris as executive vice president and chief operations officer. She will oversee the food and drug retailer’s supply chain, manufacturing and operations functions.

Denningham has served as COO of Albertsons Cos. since April 2015. He began his career with Albertson’s Inc. in 1977 as a courtesy clerk and worked his way up in the organization, eventually serving as president of the Dallas-Fort Worth division, and joined Albertson’s LLC in 2006. He led the Rocky Mountain and Florida divisions before being named president of the Southern division in 2010.

In March 2013, Denninghams was appointed as president of the Southern California division. He assumed the role of COO for the South Region at the Safeway transaction close in January 2015.

Plans call for Morris to continue to lead the Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Northern California; and Southern California divisions as part of her role. She will be based at the company’s corporate headquarters in Boise.

Jim Perkins, executive vice president of operations and special projects, will continue as president of the Acme and Eastern divisions. Mike Withers, executive vice president of East region operations, will lead the remaining divisions, which include Denver, Intermountain, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Southern, Southwest and United.

“Susan is a talented leader within our company, and she fully embraces our entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to running really good stores,” Albertsons chairman and chief executive officer Bob Miller said in a statement. “Susan raised her hand to come to Albertsons Cos. in 2010 when she was a senior vice president 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 began her career in Albertsons’ Denver division while still in high school and worked her way up in the ranks, demonstrating an ability to lead, execute and build strong teams in her more than 30 years in the retail grocery business, according to Albertsons.

Her career has spanned roles from store director to corporate grocery sales director, vice president of bakery and operations and, upon the sale of Albertson’s Inc.’s assets to Supervalu, vice president of customer satisfaction. In 2013, Morris was named Intermountain Division president after a three-year stint in the company’s Southwest division, and subsequently was asked to lead the Denver division in 2015. She was named executive vice president of East operations in April 2016 and was moved to lead West region operations last March.

Overall, Albertsons Cos. has more than 2,300 supermarkets and 1,700-plus in-store pharmacies in 35 states and the District of Columbia under 20 retail banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs.