Dive Brief:
- PCC Community Markets President and CEO Krish Srinivasan plans to retire, effective Jan 29, 2027, the Seattle-based grocery cooperative said Wednesday.
- Srinivasan will remain in his position while the co-op’s board of trustees searches for his replacement. He will also assist with onboarding his successor.
- Srinivasan is preparing to leave after leading the grocer to its strongest annual financial performance in years.
Dive Insight:
When Srinivasan took over as PCC’s chief executive in early 2022, the co-op was starting a year during which it posted an almost $250,000 operating loss and net sales of $422 million. But as he gets ready to move on, PCC is in much better fiscal shape, having recently announced that it had income from operations of more than $900,000 and about $488 million in net sales last year.
PCC highlighted its financial turnaround when announcing that Srinivasan had decided to retire, observing that he took over as CEO during what it called “one of the most challenging periods in the local and independent co-op’s history.” The co-op noted that under Srinivasan’s tenure, PCC more than doubled its membership, strengthened compensation and benefits for its unionized workers and put the grocer on a path toward sustained economic stability.
“Krish has been exactly the CEO that PCC Community Markets needed,” PCC Board Chair Joe Rogoff said in a statement. “He brought strong financial acumen, inspired confidence, and crafted a strategic vision. He stabilized our financial foundation, re-engaged members, and made the difficult decisions necessary for the future of the co-op.”
Srinivasan, who moved up the CEO role after serving as PCC’s CFO since 2018, replaced Suzy Monford as the co-op’s top executive. Monford departed abruptly in 2021 after serving as PCC’s CEO for less than a year.
Before joining PCC, Srinivasan worked for companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Lyft, and Remitly, a Seattle-based financial services company. He is the co-op’s seventh president in its over 70-year history.
“This decision comes after a lot of personal reflection and thought,” Srinivasan said in a statement. “For more than eight years, PCC has been where my passion and my sense of purpose found equal voice. It has been a uniquely special experience to do what I enjoy with an extraordinary team of people in service of a mission that truly moves us all.”
Srinivasan added that he has known for a while that his role at PCC would be his last full-time job.
“At its heart is my deep conviction that PCC is very well positioned for the next chapter in its leadership, and that I am ready to pass the reins to someone new as I look ahead to spending more time with family and loved ones in my own life’s next chapter,” he said in a letter to PCC’s members.
