CINCINNATI — Kroger Co. recently announced management changes at several of its divisions, most notably the pending retirement of Bob Mariano, chief executive officer of Kroger’s Roundy’s division and the creator and namesake of the Mariano’s grocery chain in the Chicago area.

Mariano, 66, is set to retire September 1, but he will serve as a strategic adviser to Kroger and Roundy’s over the next two years.

Houston division president Bill Breetz is retiring August 24 and will be succeeded by Marlene Stewart, currently president of the Dillons division. Colleen Juergensen, vice president of merchandising at the Smith’s division, will succeed Stewart. And Pam Matthews, vice president of operations at the Delta division, has been promoted to the post of president of the QFC division, Kroger announced.

Kroger chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen praised Mariano — who joined the company in November when it acquired Roundy’s — and wished him well in his retirement. “Bob has been a tremendous leader for Roundy’s and the entire supermarket industry,” McMullen said in a statement. “The centerpiece of his career, of course, is the Mariano’s chain of stores in his hometown of Chicago.
“We see a bright future ahead for our Pick ’n Save and Metro Market stores in Wisconsin and for Mariano’s stores in Chicago.”

Mariano began his career in the grocery business in 1967 as a part-time deli clerk at Dominick’s supermarket in Chicago. He worked his way up to senior vice president before his ascension in 1995 to the roles of president and CEO. He led Dominick’s through an initial public offering in 1996 and its takeover by Safeway Inc. in 1998.

Mariano assumed leadership of Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc. in 2002. Roundy’s opened the first store under the Mariano’s banner in 2010 in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights. Today there are 34 Mariano’s store locations throughout the Chicago area.

Don Rosanova will continue to serve as president of Mariano’s, and Michael Marx as president of Roundy’s Supermarkets Wisconsin. The two executives were appointed to those posts in March.

Breetz is retiring after 44 years with Kroger, where he began his career in 1972 as a bagger in Louisville, Ky. After earning a degree at the University of Louisville in 1977, he joined the management training program and was named a comanager in Cincinnati.

He served in several leadership positions through the years, including store and district management and vice president of merchandising for the company’s Cincinnati/Dayton division.

In 2000, Breetz was promoted to executive vice president of Kroger’s Southwest division with responsibility for operations in Dallas. In 2001, he assumed responsibility for operations in Houston. The following year, he became president of Kroger’s Southwest division. He took over the Houston division in 2015.

Matthews, the new president of QFC, succeeds Dennis Gibson, who was recently named president of the King Soopers/City Market division.