Dive Brief:
- Delhaize has named Kevin Holt as chief executive officer of its Delhaize America unit, which operates the Food Lion, Bottom Dollar, and Hannaford supermarket chains.
- Holt is a long-time veteran of the grocery business and the former head of retail operations for Supevalue.
- The hire is a crucial one for Delhaize. The Belgian supermarket giant earns some 60% of its revenue from Delhaize America's operations.
Dive Insight:
Mr. Holt has his work cut out for him. Consider just a few of the issues he has to address:
First and foremost, there's a vacuum at the top. The company has gone without a boss since Roland Smith resigned on Sept. 4 last year. Second, the company is in the midst of a massive shift in strategy that calls for facelifts for all 1,100 stores in the Food Lion chain. Third, he just lost one of his key executives: Dirk Van den Berghe has been named CEO of Walmart Canada.