Former Kroger branding executive Gilliam Phipps has joined Sprouts Farmers Market as senior vice president and chief marketing officer, effective April 14. Phipps reports directly to Sprouts Chief Executive Officer Jack Sinclair and oversee Sprouts’ marketing, advertising, customer engagement and private label teams.

Phipps brings more than 20 years of experience in marketing strategy, branding and product/private label development to Sprouts. He most recently served as vice president of branding, marketing and “Our Brands” at The Kroger Co., which he joined as vice president of “Our Brands” in 2012. Prior to his time at Kroger, Phipps spent more than 11 years at H-E-B, most recently a director of “Own Brand,” overseeing branding, innovation, product development, packaging and design. Earlier, he led new product development and category management for Hormel Foods. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in English and philosophy from The University of Texas at Austin.

“I am extremely humbled to join Sprouts, a brand that I’ve long admired for innovation and purpose,” Phipps said. “Providing communities access to healthy, affordable foods is more important today than ever before, and I look forward to helping the brand connect even further with customers nationwide in meaningful ways with the products they need and desire.”

Sprouts Farmers Market hasn't employed a chief marketing officer since Sinclair became CEO in June. Shawn Gensch served as the company's chief marketing officer from June 2015 until November 2018, then was named chief customer officer. He left Sprouts in May to join JCPenney and exited the clothing retailers in March.

Phipps is the second C-suite executive hired under Sinclair's watch. Denise Paulonis became Sprouts' chief financial officer in February.

Sprouts has scheduled its annual stockholders meeting, to be held via internet only, for April 28. The next earnings report is scheduled to be released on May 5 and the corresponding conference call will be at 5 p.m. EDT that day.

Source: Sprouts Farmers Market