MINNEAPOLIS — SUPERVALU INC. announced the appointment of Kathy Persian as senior vice president and chief information officer. Persian, 45, joined the company in February 2010 in the role of group vice president of retail and merchandising systems, and later moved to group vice president of corporate planning, analysis and business process. Persian was named to the CIO post following the decision by Wayne Shurts to accept a position with another company. Shurts joined SUPERVALU in April 2010.
Prior to SUPERVALU, Persian spent more than 20 years at Accenture and Best Buy working in business areas of IT, general retail, retail operations, merchandising, supply chain, and finance. At Accenture, Persian began as a staff consultant and worked her way up to a partner in their retail practice. She most recently worked for Best Buy as the senior vice president of international business process and operations.
“Kathy has held roles within SUPERVALU that have allowed her to become familiar with both the business and information technology sides of the company,” said Wayne Sales, SUPERVALU’s president, chief executive officer and chairman. “This experience will serve her well in providing the technological and business support the company needs as we continue to focus on profitable growth while reducing expenses. She is a proven leader and a great addition to our leadership team.”
Persian will report directly to Wayne Sales on the SUPERVALU executive team. In her new role as CIO, Persian will lead all of the company’s information technology activities.
Sales added, “It’s been a true pleasure to work with Wayne. We thank him for his leadership these past two and a half years and wish him well in the future.”
About SUPERVALU INC.
SUPERVALU INC. is one of the largest companies in the U.S. grocery channel with annual sales of approximately $35 billion. SUPERVALU serves customers across the United States through a network of approximately 4,400 stores composed of 1,101 traditional retail stores, including 798 in-store pharmacies; 1,336 hard discount stores, of which 939 are operated by licensee owners; and 1,950 independent stores serviced primarily by the Company's food distribution business. SUPERVALU has approximately 130,000 employees. For more information about SUPERVALU visit www.supervalu.com.
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Source: SUPERVALU INC.