Walgreens names group VP of owned brands

Retail and CPG veteran Marty Esarte is set to join Walgreens at the end of August as group vice president of owned brands.

Esarte will be responsible for the overall leadership of the retailer’s private label strategy.

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During his more than 20-year career, Esarte has gained experience across private brands, merchandising and marketing, and most recently led the front-end merchandising team at Walmart.

Prior to that role, Esarte managed the Walmart food division’s private brand products across fresh, snacks, beverages, packaged goods, frozen and dairy, leading the private brand business strategy, product development, sourcing and quality teams. Esarte also has experience from previous roles at Clorox and Conagra.

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Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens operates nearly 9,000 retail locations across the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, serving about 9 million customers daily. 

This story originally appeared on Progressive Grocer.