JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Southeastern Grocers announced Thursday that it has appointed Anthony Hucker president and chief executive officer, effective immediately.
Hucker has served as interim president and CEO since July 1.
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"We are pleased to welcome Anthony as CEO of Southeastern Grocers as he was always part of our succession plan,” the company said in a news release. “He has played an integral role in our successful transformation over the last 18 months and we are positive he is the right leader to guide SEG. Anthony brings significant industry expertise, and we are confident that he will continue to improve the business to the benefit of our dedicated customers across the Southeast."
Southeastern Grocers is the parent company of BI-LO, Fresco y Mas, Harveys and Winn-Dixie grocery stores.
Before joining SEG, Hucker was president and COO of Schnucks, based in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the Midwest’s leading food retailers and one of the largest privately held supermarket chains in the U.S.
Hucker also held the position of president of Giant Food, based in Washington D.C., the Mid-Atlantic’s premier grocery store chain and served on the executive board of Ahold USA.
Prior to joining Giant Food, Hucker spent seven years at Wal-Mart in a variety of leadership positions, internationally and domestically. He began as the CIO of the Americas, formed the Global Format Development Division and was promoted to head of strategy and business development for Wal-Mart USA and was a corporate officer of the world’s largest retailer.
Hucker pursued an honours degree from the Metropolitan University of Manchester, UK, in retail marketing and an international diploma in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK. During this time, he worked as a food industry analyst reporting on pan-European stocks to the city of London.
He then worked for 10 years with Aldi, a leader in the grocery retailing industry, where he served in a variety of leadership assignments in Germany, the U.S. and Austria, and was part of the original startup leadership team that set up Aldi UK.
"I'm grateful to our leadership team for the smooth transition over the past six weeks and I’m excited for the opportunity to continue to drive the strategic direction of the company. I’m humbled and honored to lead our team of more than 50,000 associates who are our greatest assets, putting our customers first, always," Hucker said. "Over the past two years, we've made substantial progress in our transformation, and we're ready to push forward.”