Supervalu Inc. ceo Craig Herkert has left the company after three years. He is being replaced by chairman Wayne Sales, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The Eden Prairie, Minn.-based company recently disclosed that its fiscal first-quarter earnings dropped 45 percent. Herkert had implemented a strategy to lower prices, cut costs internally and expand its discount chain, Save-A-Lot, which has been performing better than its traditional grocery brands, such as Albertsons, Jewel-Osco and Shaw's, The Journal reports.
"As I step into my new role, I am focused on accelerating our progress in [these] areas," Sales said in a letter to associates.
Herkert joined the company in May 2009, coming from Walmart where he had served as president and ceo of its Americas business. Sales has been a Supervalu director since 2006 and nonexecutive chairman since 2010.