Ahold Delhaize’s US logistics arm names Dollar General vet as head of distribution and transportation

Dive Brief:

ADUSA Supply Chain, the distribution company that supports Ahold Delhaize USA’s grocery stores, announced Wednesday that Sanja Krajnovic is its new executive vice president of distribution and transportation.
Krajnovic formerly served as senior vice president of store operations at Dollar General, overseeing 9,300 locations across the country. Before joining the dollar retailer in 2020, she spent 24 years at Target, rising to the position of group vice president for global supply chain and logistics.
Krajnovic’s appointment comes as Ahold Delhaize USA continues to transition its supply chain operations to a self-distribution model.

Dive Insight:

In her new role as head of distribution and transportation for the East Coast grocery conglomerate, Krajnovic will head up strategy and future planning for the self-distribution supply chain system the company has built out over the past few years.

Beginning in 2019, Ahold Delhaize USA has been building out its network through a combination of acquisitions and sale-leasebacks, in some cases remodeling facilities to add automation and other utilities. Last year, the company noted that it would control 85% of its distribution network by the end of 2022.

Krajnovic will oversee operations for 19 facilities that handle distribution, transportation and manufacturing. These facilities provide services to more than 2,100 grocery stores, shipping more than 1.2 billion cases each year, according to Wednesday’s announcement.

Like Ahold Delhaize USA, Krajnovic’s former employer, Dollar General, has been transitioning to a self-distributed supply chain network. The dollar retailer now self-distributes perishable and refrigerated foods across its network of more than 17,000 stores.

When Krajnovic joined Dollar General in 2020, she oversaw 2,400 Midwestern stores. The next year, she was promoted to senior vice president of store operations, with oversight of roughly half the company’s store count.

In more than two decades at Target, Krajnovic directed multi-site functions across the company’s food and supply chain operations and headed up various strategic initiatives in those areas as well.