New division heads to drive more growth at Kroger

Growth opportunities in new geographies prompted Kroger to realign its organizational structure and place four executive in new roles.

Just two days after reporting strong first quarter results, the nation’s second largest food retailer established two new supermarket divisions in Nashville and Louisville.

"Opportunities for growth in Tennessee, northern Alabama, Kentucky, and Southern Illinois and Indiana inspired us to take this path," said Kroger president and COO Rodney McMullen. "We believe this move will enable our associates to do what they do best – meet the needs of our local customers and neighbors, our communities, and each other."

Rick Going will serve as president of the company's new Nashville division consisting of 91 stores in the Nashville, Knoxville and Huntsville, Ala., markets. Calvin Kaufman will serve as president of the new Louisville division consisting of 98 Kroger stores in Kentucky, southern Illinois and southern Indiana.

Placing Going and Kaufman in new roles gave Kroger the opportunity to fill their existing position with other executives. Jayne Homco was named president of the 129 store Michigan division that was previously led by Going. Erin Sharp was named group vice president of Kroger manufacturing filling the role previously held by Kaufman and will oversee 37 food processing plants throughout the U.S.

"Rick, Calvin, Jayne and Erin bring to their new roles a passion for customers and proven experience leading teams to deliver consistently strong performance," McMullen said. "Their leadership will help us build on our Customer 1st strategy to enhance customer loyalty, accelerate our growth and deliver shareholder value."

Going previously served as president of the Michigan division and has been with Kroger since 1981. He held a number of leadership positions at the store, district and division level before advancing to his current position in 2007.

Kaufman previously served as group vice president of Kroger manufacturing and has been with the company since 1994. He held a variety of leadership roles including a stint as Kroger’s senior director of logistics.

Prior to her appointment as president of Kroger’s Michigan division, Jayne Homco served as a vp of merchandising for Kroger's Southwest division. She joined Kroger in 1978

Prior to her appointment as group vp of Kroger manufacturing, Erin Sharp served as vp of manufacturing. She joined Kroger in 2001 after serving as vp of manufacturing for Sara Lee. In that role she led manufacturing and logistics operations for the central region of Sara Lee’s U.S. Fresh Bakery Division.