Over the next 16 months, Wakefern Food Corp., the largest grocery wholesaler in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, will be searching for a new president/COO and a new executive vice president.
That’s because Joe Sheridan, the veteran executive of the Keasbey, NJ-based co-op, has announced his retirement from Wakefern, which includes such powerful retail banners as ShopRite, Price Rite and Fresh Grocer. Sheridan recently finalized his retirement plan, about which he had previously notified Wakefern’s board of directors. Sheridan will be stepping down in October 2023. At that point, the popular executive will have served the grocery co-op for nearly 48 years, the last 12 as the de facto day-to-day leader of the company.
In an unrelated announcement, Chris Lane, who many trade observers believed would become Sheridan’s successor, surprisingly resigned from Wakefern on June 6.
Lane joined Wakefern from Duane Reade in 2003 as VP-pharmacy and added HBC to his responsibilities in 2005. In 2008, he was promoted to VP-grocery, DSD and commercial bakery. Lane then served as senior VP-product divisions and e-commerce and in 2016, he was named executive VP.
“Chris’s departure is a tremendous loss to Wakefern,” noted Joe Colalillo, chairman and CEO of Wakefern. “Chris has been a trusted advisor and provided the strong, ethical leadership that our cooperative of family-owned businesses depends on. I respect Chris’s decision and wish him success in the future.”
Sheridan added: “After 19 years at Wakefern, with the last six years in the role of EVP, Chris has decided to leave Wakefern to pursue other opportunities. Chris has been the bold leader we’ve needed at Wakefern. He initiated and led us through a strategic plan that focused on today’s most pressing retail challenges, helped our cooperative succeed in a highly competitive market and allowed us to thrive during the pandemic. Many of the advances we have made in e-commerce, procurement, technology, and own brands can be credited to Chris’s leadership.”
A successor has not yet been named and a search for a qualified candidate will begin shortly.