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GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General Corp. chief executive officer Todd Vasos plans to step down from his position effective November 1. He will be succeeded by Jeff Owen, who has served as Dollar General’s chief operating officer since 2019.
As part of the leadership transition, Vasos is expected to serve in a senior advisory position, beginning when he steps down as CEO and continuing through April 1 of next year. At that point Vasos will officially retire, although he is expected to enter into a two-year consulting agreement following his retirement and will continue to serve as a member of the company’s board of directors.
“On behalf of the board of directors, I want to thank Todd for his many years of service to Dollar General, his outstanding leadership, commitment to our values and dedication to the company, its employees, customers, communities and shareholders,” board chairman Michael Calbert said. “Todd led Dollar General through a period of significant transformation, accelerated growth and innovation. We are a stronger, more resilient, and longer-term strategically driven organization than when he took the reins in 2015. DG is a better company today as a result of Todd’s leadership. The board is looking forward to continuing this strong trajectory under the leadership of Jeff Owen, who is a strategic thinker, strong collaborator and proven leader known for his motivational leadership and deep knowledge of DG.”
Vasos has served as CEO and as a member of the company’s board of directors since June 2015. He joined Dollar General in 2008 as executive vice president, division president and chief merchandising officer and served as COO from 2013 until being named CEO. During Vasos’s tenure as CEO, the company expanded its store base by approximately 7,000 stores, added nearly 60,000 net new jobs, increased annual sales revenue by more than 80%, and more than doubled its market capitalization to approximately $58 billion. Vasos was named a Most Admired CEO by Nashville Business Journal in 2021 and currently serves on the boards of directors for the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and KeyCorp.
Under Vasos’s leadership, the company created and delivered on key strategic initiatives including self-distribution of frozen and refrigerated goods (DG Fresh), as well as various nonconsumables initiatives, including its newest retail concept pOpshelf, and significant digital expansions. He also led Dollar General’s efforts to expand the availability of fresh produce to more than 2,300 stores, launched the DG Private Fleet driver program, opened 16 additional distribution centers and, most recently, announced the company’s planned expansion into Mexico.
During Vasos’s tenure as CEO, Dollar General was named to Fortune magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies List in 2020 and 2022; Forbes Top 25 Responders to the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020; Mass Market Retailers magazine’s Retailer of the Year in 2019 and 2020, and recognized by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index for its workplace inclusion efforts in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
“Serving my fellow employees, our customers and our communities as CEO has been the greatest privilege of my career,” Vasos said. “Together, we ushered in an era of unrivaled growth while staying true to our mission of Serving Others. Today, we are so much more than a dollar store, proudly serving millions of Americans as their neighborhood general store. Having worked with Jeff for many years, I am confident in his leadership abilities and capability to lead Dollar General into our next chapter of growth and service.”
Owen became Dollar General’s COO in August 2019, having previously been executive vice president of store operations. He began his career at Dollar General in 1992 as a store manager trainee in Nashville, Tenn.
“I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to build on Todd’s incredible tenure as CEO,” Owen said. “I am equally humbled to lead Dollar General as we continue to serve our customers with value and convenience, support the communities we proudly call home, and provide our employees with career and growth opportunities. For the past three decades, I’ve grown and developed within our company, and I couldn’t be prouder to serve as CEO alongside an amazing team in our stores, distribution centers, private fleet and Store Support Center.”
