No. 1 Rodney McMullen, CEO, Kroger Co.
Observers say McMullen can move quickly not because of haste but because of confidence. He worked alongside former CEO David Dillon for years, developing not only the “Customer 1st” strategy but the growth phase on top of it, which now is roaring to life.
Read full profile
No. 2 Robert Miller, CEO, Albertsons
“When the investors hired me, I wasn’t interested in shutting all the stores down,” Miller told SN.
“I asked if they would let us try to make the stores successful, and they said OK. Once we started focusing on the stores that were left, the investors got all their money back, with some profit, and they changed their minds [about selling the rest because] the stores were generating cash.”
Read full profile
No. 3 Robert Edwards, president and CEO, Safeway
“So Edwards has become the architect of that transition,” one industry observer told SN. “His goal is to manage a successful sale of Safeway — that’s his job.
Read full profile
No. 4 Ed Crenshaw, CEO, Publix Super Markets
“Edwards is pretty direct, and he’s made it clear he wants to be known as the guy that delivered value for shareholders — and that is exactly what he’s doing,” one observer told SN.
Read full profile
No. 5 Frans Muller, president and CEO, Delhaize Group
“A lot of work has been done there on the customer side at Food Lion,” Muller told SN.
Read full profile
No. 6 Sam Duncan, president and CEO, Supervalu
I want us to build on our heritage as a great wholesaler, the core of who we are,” said Duncan.
Read full profile
No. 7 Walter Robb, co-CEO, Whole Foods Market
“Walter is a true believer in the mission of the natural foods movement,” said Jay Jacobowitz, president of natural products consultant Retail Insights, Brattleboro, Vt.
Read full profile
No. 8 Doug Sanders, president and CEO, Sprouts Farmers Market
“The broad appeal of our model has allowed us to operate successfully in a variety of market sizes, from lifestyle areas in California and Colorado to non-traditional natural foods markets such as Texas and Oklahoma,” said Sanders.
Read full profile
No. 9 Jeff Bezos, chairman, president and CEO, Amazon.com
“And so the chatter I continue to hear is that AmazonFresh is doing fantastic from an order frequency point of view but that its reach and its membership base is still challenged,” said Keith Anderson, VP, RetailNet Group.
Read full profile
No. 10 The Genetically Modified Ingredient
Bill Gates extols its benefits. A handful of U.S. counties ban its cultivation. And industry stakeholders are starkly divided on whether to label foods containing it.
Read full profile