Greg Foran, former chief executive of Air New Zealand, is now officially the new head of US grocery giant Kroger.
The said grocery chain is considered one of the major retailers in the United States, with more than 400,000 employees in 2023, and operated more than 2,700 stores nationwide in the US.
Foran, now 64, kicked off his career at 17 stacking shelves at Woolworths in Hamilton and was managing a supermarket by age 20.
He advanced through the ranks at Woolworths before joining Walmart in 2011.
He served as CEO and president of Walmart U.S. from 2014 to 2019.
Between 2020 and 2025, Foran became the chief executive of Air New Zealand, succeeded by Nikhil Ravishankar.
Kroger’s interim CEO Ron Sargent announced the appointment, praising Foran as a “highly respected operator who knows how to run large-scale retail businesses, strengthen store execution, and lead high-performing teams.”
“His leadership style, focus on the customer, commitment to associates, and disciplined approach to execution are the perfect fit for Kroger,” Sargent said.
In a statement, Kroger highlighted Foran’s Walmart tenure, where he “accelerated Walmart’s digital capabilities, introducing online ordering and pickup while driving meaningful retail media results.”
Kroger added that Foran delivered positive comparable sales growth for 20 straight quarters while overseeing more than 4,600 stores and one million associates.
It also spotlighted Foran’s Air New Zealand role, where he “led an end-to-end digital transformation to improve the customer experience and make the business more agile.”