Supervalu names Sam Duncan president, CEO ahead of timeline

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu on Monday named Sam Duncan president and CEO. In this role he succeeds Wayne Sales, who has served as the company’s president and CEO since July 2012. The succession was first reported last month, when Supervalu announced its agreement with AB Acquisition to sell five of its retail banners as well as enter into an agreement with Symphony Investors to conduct a tender offer for up to 30% of Supervalu's outstanding common stock. 

Both AB Acquisition and Symphony Investors are Cerberus Capital Management-led entities. 

Supervalu had previously announced that Duncan would assume the leadership role upon closing of the transaction. Sales will be Supervalu's executive chairman and in that capacity will continue to have oversight over the completion of the transaction. At the closing of the transaction, Robert Miller, current president and CEO of Albertsons LLC, will become Supervalu’s non-executive chairman.

“The board decided to install Sam as president and chief executive officer before the completion of our previously announced transaction so he can start refining and where appropriate implement plans for the business," Sales said.  

Duncan, 61, most recently served from 2005-2011 as chairman, CEO and president of OfficeMax, the third-largest office supplies retailer in North America with more than $7 billion in revenues and more than 1,000 stores. Prior to joining OfficeMax, Duncan served as president and CEO of ShopKo Stores, a $3 billion Midwest retailer. 

As part of today’s announcement, Supervalu also reaffirmed that the closing of the previously announced sale and tender offer process is expected to occur the week of March 18.

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