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SpartanNash hires Masiar Tayebi as chief strategy officer

Veteran business executive served as COO of Yummly digital food platform

Russell Redman

April 19, 2021

2 Min Read
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As SpartanNash’s chief strategy officer, Tayebi will collaborate with senior leaders on key business challenges and new growth opportunities, including M&As.SpartanNash

Masiar Tayebi has joined SpartanNash as executive vice president and chief strategy officer, a newly created position.

Tayebi started in the new post today, coming over from Whirlpool Corp., where he served as global head of corporate strategy and business development.

As SpartanNash’s chief strategy officer, Tayebi reports to President and CEO Tony Sarsam and leads the development and execution of corporate strategy to spur growth and sharpen business performance. He will work closely with senior leaders to identify, analyze and solve business challenges and capitalize on new growth opportunities, including mergers and acquisitions, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based grocery distributor and retailer said.

Tayebi’s more than three-year tenure at Whirlpool included serving as chief operating officer of its subsidiary Yummly, a digital food platform offering personalized recipes, recipe search and online grocery delivery to millions of users.

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Before joining Whirlpool, Tayebi (left) spent 15 years in financial services and management consulting. From 2007 to 2014, he served as an executive director at UBS, where he defined and executed strategic objectives related to acquisitions, technology-driven innovation and multimillion-dollar organizational transformations, SpartanNash said. Prior to that, he held consulting positions focused on strategy and transformational change for Fortune 500 companies, including at PwC Consulting, Salience and Andersen Business Consulting.

Related:SpartanNash taps C&S Wholesale’s David Petko as supply chain chief

“Masiar’s track record of defining and executing strategies based on deep financial and strategic analyses has resulted in significant growth in his previous roles,” Sarsam said in a statement. “While head of corporate strategy and business development at Whirlpool, he led the successful diligence and acquisition of companies, including Yummly. In doing so, he managed a team of high-performing leaders across corporate strategy, innovation, M&A, competitive intelligence and strategic planning. We believe his commitment to executing with excellence will advance our people-first culture and enable us to capitalize on new growth opportunities.”

The hiring of Tayebi continues a recent flurry of executive appointments at SpartanNash. Last week, the company named former C&S Wholesale Grocers executive David Petko as chief supply chain officer. That followed a trio of appointments in March: Amy McClellan as vice president of fresh merchandising for retail, Nestlé USA executive Greg Molloy as vice president of environmental health and safety, and Jason Monaco as chief financial officer, succeeding Mark Shamber. Also in March, SpartanNash announced that Douglas Hacker will take the chairman’s reins from Dennis Eidson in May at the company’s 2021 annual shareholders meeting.

Related:SpartanNash issues code of conduct for vendors

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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