Albertsons Cos. has promoted Own Brands President Geoff White to executive vice president and chief merchandising officer.

Under White’s leadership, Own Brands penetration grew from 23 percent in FY2017 to 25.3 percent in Albertsons' most recently reported quarter. O Organics and Open Nature represent 23.6 percent of the total natural and organic sales at Albertsons Cos., a 152-basis point growth from Q1 of FY2018. In 2018, the Own Brands team launched Signature RESERVE, an ultra-premium label that features globally sourced ingredients.

“Geoff is a customer-centric leader that brings a unique combination of creativity and analytics to achieve growth,” said Vivek Sankaran, president and chief executive officer. “I look forward to working with him to transform our merchandising capabilities.”

White began his career with the company as a general clerk at Safeway in Burnaby, BC, in 1981. He eventually became director of Canadian produce operations for 210 stores. He held leadership roles in produce, dairy, frozen, deli/food service, produce, floral, and branded concepts at the Safeway corporate office from 2004 to 2015. In 2015, he was named senior vice president of marketing and merchandising for the Northern California Division, and in 2017, he was appointed president of the company’s Own Brands team.