TreeHouse Foods onboards former Walgreens group VP as chief strategy officer

OAK BROOK, Ill. — Moe Alkemade, former Walgreens group VP/general manager for convenience, will join private brand manufacturer TreeHouse Foods as SVP and chief strategy officer, effective April 24, the company announced Tuesday.



He will report to Sam Reed, TreeHouse chairman and CEO. The move reunites Alkemade with Rachel Bishop, who joined Treehouse from Walgreens in 2014.

"I'm delighted to welcome Moe to the TreeHouse family in a key senior strategy and integration role," Reed stated. "Moe brings substantial customer insight and perspective regarding private label that will prove invaluable to TreeHouse. He will also work in close concert with our chief information officer who has been co-leading the Private Brands integration since the beginning, to ensure that we continue to drive the successful combination of the Private Brands business."



At Walgreens, Alkemade was responsibile for the household, consumables and general merchandise categories. Prior to that, he was group VP retail brands and global sourcing, where he was responsible for creating and leading a team responsible for Walgreens' more than $5 billion private brands business.



Before Walgreens, Alkemade spent 15 years with Kraft in a variety of sales and marketing roles of increasing responsibility, including customer relationship management, Asia Pacific and Canada. Alkemade holds a bachelors in business management in finance and economics from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada.



In other executive moves, TreeHouse Foods noted that Bishop, currently SVP and chief strategy officer, will assume the role of president of the company's snacks division. The TreeHouse Foods snacks division is one of the largest private-label manufacturers of snack nuts, trail mixes and bars, based on volume, in the United States, the company noted.

Bishop joined TreeHouse in 2014 from Walgreens, where she served as group VP, retail strategy.

Keiran Kelly, currently president of the snacks division, will focus on the sales growth and development of the emerging online channel and several key customers.



"Both Rachel and Keiran will assume roles that are significant to our overall growth strategy," Reed said. "As our chief strategy officer, Rachel further deepened our knowledge of the private label shopper across the store, and in particular, within the snacking category. As we bring together the Flagstone Foods and Private Brands snacks business, Rachel's leadership will be critical in positioning us to capitalize on the long term growth opportunities to become a much bigger player in healthy snacking," he said. "Similarly, the ever evolving retailer landscape, propelled by the growth of online shopping, requires senior sales expertise that is the trademark of Keiran's career."



All of these management developments will become effective April 24, 2017.