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CINCINNATI — Mary Ellen Adcock was appointed chief merchandising and marketing officer of Kroger in January, when she replaced Stuart Aitken, who left the company to pursue other professional opportunities. She had been senior vice president of operations.
“Mary Ellen is a respected leader both within Kroger and our industry,” said then chief executive officer Rodney McMullen at the time of the appointment. “Her deep strategic experience in her past 25 years with Kroger in roles of increasing responsibility will continue to drive value for customers and growth for our business and associates.”
As senior VP of operations, Adcock oversaw more than 2,700 stores in 35 states, supporting over 416,000 associates. She was responsible for customer experience, associate experience, asset protection, process change and productivity improvement initiatives. Adcock is credited with delivering over $1 billion in annual operations savings for six consecutive years. According to the company, that strategic focus on efficiency improvements allowed Kroger to reinvest the savings in lower prices for customers and higher wages for associates. She also had a lead role in operationalizing Zero Hunger/Zero Waste, Kroger’s program to end hunger and eliminate waste.
Adcock joined Kroger in 1999 in the grocer’s manufacturing division, where she held a variety of leadership positions. In 2009 she was promoted to VP of deli/bakery manufacturing, and in 2012, was named VP of natural foods. After leading merchandising and operations for the Columbus division for two years, she was promoted to group VP of retail operations in 2016, and was named senior VP of retail operations in 2019.
