Galen Weston has appointed Vincente Trius, 53, a man of considerable world experience to lead Loblaws stores. The new president of Loblaw Companies is a proven retail executive, says Canadian Grocer. But his last two postings, at Walmart and France’s Carrefour, were remarkable for how brief they lasted. Mr.Trius, a Spaniard, was named president of Canada’s largest grocer on Thursday. He won’t take over the job until the second half of this year, however.
Trius replaces Allan Leighton, the British retail executive who executed a mass reorganization of Loblaw over the past four years that saw the company slash costs and spend heavily to update its supply chain. Analysts called the hire a smart one since Trius will bring much-needed retail operational expertise to Loblaw. “We have said for some time, this is an area where Loblaw needs to fill the gaps,” Scotia Capital analyst Patricia Baker said in a research note. There is a hint of skepticsm in the account by Marketing: “Having held top positions for Walmart in Asia and in Latin America, and for Carrefour in Europe, Trius does arrive with impressive global retail credentials. But his last two stops were short. He only joined Carrefour in May of last year and he spent just five months as president and chief executive of Walmart Latin America before that.”