Dive Brief:
- Wakefern Food Corp. has named McMenamin Family Markets President Sean McMenamin as chairman of the retailer-owned cooperative, according to a Tuesday press release.
- McMenamin replaces Joseph Colalillo, who led Wakefern’s board of directors for 18 years.
- Wakefern’s appointment of a new chairman is the latest in a series of top-level leadership changes at the retailer-owned cooperative during 2023.
Dive Insight:
McMenamin is taking over as Wakefern’s chairman just a few months after the supermarket cooperative brought on former United Natural Foods, Inc. executive Mike Stigers as president.
Wakefern also hired Elena Kabasinskas as group vice president of strategy, planning and transformation and promoted longtime executive Michael Day to senior vice president of strategy, business development and architecture this year.
Based in New Jersey, Wakefern encompasses about 365 supermarkets in nine East Coast states under banners including ShopRite, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market and Gourmet Garage. The company posted retail sales of $19.6 billion during its latest fiscal year, which concluded on Sept. 30, according to the announcement.
McMenamin, whose company runs two Philadelphia ShopRite locations, was vice chairman of Wakefern’s board before assuming his current position on Oct. 19 at the organization’s annual meeting. In addition, Sandra Brown, chairwoman of Brown’s Super Stores, and David Maniaci, president and CEO of Nicholas Markets, became Wakefern’s newest board members at the meeting.
Colalillo, who heads a company owned by his family that operates five ShopRite stores, will remain a director of the cooperative. He pointed to investments Wakefern made in warehouses, technology and marketing as achievements the group notched under his leadership.
“Through our combined efforts, Wakefern’s retail banners are respected and formidable regional supermarkets in the Northeast,” Colalillo said in a statement.
McMenamin’s appointment as chairman of Wakefern comes as the cooperative prepares to close several ShopRite locations in upstate New York because they have not performed up to expectations. On Wednesday, meanwhile, a new ShopRite store that is the first of the banner’s locations to include a hardware store-within-a-store, opened in Sussex, New Jersey.
