Roces, 48, replaces Bill Shaner, who has led Save-A-Lot since 2006 and helped establish Save-A-Lot as one of the premier hard-discount grocery stores in America. Under Shaner’s tenure, Save-A-Lot outlined a significant growth strategy, which resulted in the company growing by 92 stores last year.

“We wish Bill well in all his future endeavors and appreciate his commitment to Supervalu for the past 27 years and more recently his leadership and guidance as we laid out an aggressive growth strategy for Save-A-Lot,” said Herkert.

Supervalu has announced previously that it plans to double the number of Save-A-Lot stores, growing it to more than 2,400 locations by the end of 2015. With more than 20 years experience in the grocery and food industry, including experience in franchise development, Roces brings a proven track record for growing sales and driving new market development.

“Santiago is a nice fit for our company and for Save-A-Lot,” Herkert continued. “We believe he is the right individual to lead this organization forward and to help ensure we realize the aggressive growth plans that have been established.”

Prior to becoming Walmart’s senior vice president of its small format division, Roces held a variety of leadership positions at Walmart including senior vice president of new business development and customer experience, president & CEO of Walmart Korea, and chief merchandising officer of Walmart Argentina. In addition to Walmart, he has held leadership positions at PepsiCo and Carrefour. Roces also has demonstrated leadership in driving private brands penetration and customer acceptance, a critical part of the Save-A-Lot business model with nearly 80 percent of its products packaged under private label.

Source: Supervalu Inc.