The CEO of Kroger abruptly stepped down from the company Monday morning after an investigation into his personal conduct.
The company said Rodney McMullen’s personal conduct was “inconsistent” with the company’s ethics policies, CNN reported.
The investigation into McMullen’s personal life was started after the company was “made aware of certain personal conduct” he had done but did not go into detail what the behavior was other than to clarify that it wasn’t connected to Kroger’s “financial performance, operations or reporting, and it did not involve any Kroger associates.”
McMullen has been with the company since 1978 when he started at Kroger as a part-time stock clerk in Kentucky. Over his nearly five-decade career, he held several positions including chief financial officer and a member of the board. He was selected as CEO in 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Under his tenure, there had been a deal with rival Albertsons but was taken off the table after the Federal Trade Commission under President Joe Biden’s administration sued to block the merger which would have been worth $25 billion and would have combined the fifth and 10th largest grocery chains in the U.S., CNN reported in December.
Albertsons sued Kroger for breach of contract.
Ronald Sargent was named interim CEO on Monday until a permanent replacement is found, The Wall Street Journal reported. Sargent has been on Kroger’s board since 2006 and the company’s lead director since 2017.
“As interim CEO, I am committed to working alongside our proven and experienced management team and dedicated associates to ensure Kroger continues providing exceptional value for our customers,” Sargent said in a company news release announcing McMullen’s resignation. “Kroger has been a special place throughout my retail career after spending summers in college working in stores, as well as my first ten years after business school at corporate headquarters, before more recently serving as lead independent director. My decades here have given me a full appreciation of what makes Kroger unique, and I am excited to work even more closely with this talented team. I plan to be a steady, but active hand in the execution of our strategy.”
Mark Sutton will be the company’s lead independent director, Kroger said.
Both Sutton and Sargent’s new roles were effective immediately.
Kroger employs almost 420,000 people across all of its companies and serves 11 million customers daily, according to the news release.
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