Safeway Inc. (Pleasanton, Calif.) promoted Robert Edwards to president of the grocery and drug company. Edwards has served as Safeway's executive vp and chief financial officer since 2004.
In his new post, he will have overall responsibility for the company's retail operations, marketing, merchandising, corporate brands, manufacturing, distribution and finance functions. He will also continue as chief financial officer until a successor is named.
The company also announced that executive vp Larree Renda will assume additional responsibilities for real estate and information technology.
Safeway operates 1678 stores in the U.S. and Canada, and reported $43.6 billion in sales in 2011.