Executive brings nearly 20 years of experience to new role

KEASBEY, N.J. — Wakefern Food Corp. has tapped supermarket industry veteran Erik Keptner to serve as senior vice president of marketing.

Erik Keptner

Keptner brings nearly 20 years of experience to his new role at Wakefern, the nation’s largest retailer-owned cooperative. He will be responsible for developing marketing and merchandising strategies for the cooperative, whose member companies own and operate supermarkets under the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer and Dearborn Market banners. He will oversee Wakefern’s Digital Commerce and Analytics, Advertising, Corporate Merchandising, Private Label and Own Brand, and Social Media and Digital Advertising divisions. He will report directly to Wakefern executive vice president Chris Lane.

“Erik came up in the grocery business at a pivotal time for the industry, and throughout his career has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to implementing consumer-centric marketing and merchandising strategies,” said Lane. “He’s a proven leader, and we are very excited to welcome him to the Wakefern team.”

Keptner previously worked as senior vice president of sales, merchandising and marketing for the Giant Food Stores division of Ahold Delhaize. Before taking that post in 2014, Keptner was executive vice president of marketing for Ahold USA. He also served as senior vice president of marketing and consumer insight from 2009 to 2012, and before that as senior vice president of marketing and communication for Giant Food Stores.

“Wakefern has a long history as a respected industry leader,” Keptner said. “I look forward to joining the team and working with the 50 cooperative member families that make up this esteemed retailer.”

A graduate of Pennsylvania State University, Keptner received his Master of Business Administration from Temple University in Philadelphia. In 2011 he was named to the Central Pennsylvania Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list. He has served in the past on the board of governors for St. Joseph’s University Institute for Food Marketing and the advisory board for the Children’s Miracle Network at Penn State Children’s Hospital.