Ingles Markets names new CEO

Persistence has paid off at Ingles Market for Jim Lanning who was elevated to the role of CEO after joining the $3.8 billion supermarket chain 41 years earlier.

Asheville, NC.-based Ingles Markets named Lanning, 56, to the role of CEO, filling a position previously held by company Chairman Robert P. Ingle, II. Lanning will retain his position as president while Ingle, 47, will continue to serve as chairman and continue his day-to-day active operational role in the executive leadership of the company, according to a statement.

“Jim has shown outstanding leadership qualities as president for the past 13 years. I am proud at this time to expand his role for the company’s future growth, flexibility and development,” Ingle said.

Lanning joined Ingles Market in 1975 at the age of 15 while he was still in school and held numerous positions at the company throughout his career. Ingles became a publicly held company in 1987 and at the end of its most recent fiscal year on Sept. 26, 2015 the company operated 201 stores in six southeastern states , including 71 location in Georgia and North Carolina, 36 in South Carolina, 20 in Tennessee, two in Virginia and one in Alabama. Ninety-seven stores contain a pharmacy and 88 contain a fuel station.

Lanning was named president and COO in March 2003 and in May of that year he was named to the company’s board. His appointment as CEO marks the first time that someone whose last name isn’t Ingle has held the top job at the family-controlled company. Robert P. Ingle, II became CEO of the company in March 2011 when his father Robert P. Ingle died. The elder Ingle had founded the company in 1963 when he opened the company’s first store in Asheville.