Albertsons Names Geoff White President, Own Brands

The Albertsons Cos. has named Geoff White president of own brands, a new position for the Boise, Idaho-based grocery company. He will be based at the company's Pleasanton, Calif., campus.

In the new role, White will lead the own brands team, including the culinary kitchen and technical center. He will be responsible for furthering growth, development and innovation of private brands such as O Organic, Lucerne, Open Nature and the extensive line of Signature products.

“Geoff is a visionary merchant who understands the evolution of our company’s own brands and the significant role they play in our overall strategy,” said Shane Sampson, EVP and chief marketing and merchandising officer. “Our own brand items are integral to how we earn customer loyalty. We’ve developed a nimble process that responds quickly to consumer trends with popular products over the last two years, and I’m excited to see how our team and brands further their development under Geoff’s leadership.”

White started as a general clerk in Burnaby, British Columbia, in 1981, and held positions of increasing responsibility over the following 17 years, culminating in director of Canadian produce operations, in which role he was responsible for all produce sales, marketing and merchandising spanning 210 stores in western Canada. In December 2004, he became group director at Safeway's corporate office, and was eventually promoted to VP of produce.

In 2010, he was named SVP, and, over the next five years, led several functions, including dairy, frozen, deli/foodservice, branded concepts, produce and floral. Then, in 2015, he became SVP of marketing and merchandising for the Northern California division.

Albertsons Cos. operates stores across 35 states and Washington, D.C., under 19 well-known banners, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs.