Kroger Names De Martino CPO Amid Giant Eagle Deal

Emilee De Martino is stepping into the people job at Kroger in the middle of a shopping spree. The grocer named her EVP and Chief People Officer on Thursday, a day after agreeing to buy regional chain Giant Eagle for US$1.65bn.

She succeeds Tim Massa, one of the longest-serving Chief People Officers in US retail, who retires on 18 September. 

"Emilee is a proven leader with a track record of building strong people organizations at scale," says Greg Foran, Kroger's CEO.

An outside hire for the people job

Emilee is an outside appointment for a company that likes to promote from within. She joins from McDonald's, where she was SVP and Chief People Officer for International Operated Markets, leading people strategy across 19 countries and more than 750,000 staff.

In eight years there she embedded the chain's people brand standards and helped push crew retention to record levels. That is a bigger headcount than Kroger's, so managing scale is familiar ground. Before McDonald's she ran change and culture at CNA Financial and advised on transformation at Accenture and Mercer.

"I am honored to join an organization where people are central to the strategy," says Emilee, who plans to start by visiting associates in stores, distribution centres and plants.

Her fast-food roots matter too because Kroger is chasing the same prize: retention and experience in a vast hourly workforce. Many associates are unionised, and pay and scheduling remain perennial flashpoints.

Massa's exit and the job ahead

Tim leaves big shoes. He joined from Procter & Gamble and has run Kroger's people function for about a decade, through the pandemic, union wage fights and the collapse of the blocked Albertsons merger.

Under him the grocer widened associate benefits and its Feed Your Future education programme, which covers tuition for hourly staff. His successor inherits both that legacy and a fresh integration challenge.

Kroger agreed on 1 July to buy Giant Eagle for US$1.65bn, taking on a Pittsburgh institution with roughly 197 supermarkets across five states, the GetGo convenience chain and about US$9bn in annual sales.

The deal is expected to close in 2027, and Giant Eagle keeps its name, its Cranberry headquarters and its Market District brand. That softens the landing for a proud regional workforce joining a company of more than 400,000, though it won't remove the shock entirely.

The buyer is a grocer still steadying itself. The courts killed Kroger's US$24.6bn Albertsons merger in 2024, and the CEO's office has changed hands twice since Rodney McMullen resigned over a conduct review in 2025. Greg, who ran Walmart's US business before this, now leads Kroger with a mandate to sharpen execution.

Kroger remains the largest traditional supermarket operator in America, yet Walmart still sells more groceries, and Aldi and Amazon keep squeezing on price. 

The lesson for HR

Kroger's new Chief People Officer was hired to lead a transformation, and one has arrived faster than expected. Absorbing Giant Eagle means merging pay and benefits across two proud workforces while keeping the people who run the stores from walking.

She says she wants Kroger to remain "an employer of choice". The next two years will show whether an outsider can make that true.