Reshuffling at the Top at Tesco: Retail Chief Adams Leaving Fresh & Easy For Turkey; China CEO Ashdown to Replace Him; Richie to Head China Operations

Jeff Adams, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's top retail operations executive, is leaving the El Segundo, California-based grocery chain to become CEO of Tesco Kipa in Turkey, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned.
He will be moving to Izmir, Turkey, where Tesco Kipa is based, later this month.

Adams is being replaced at Fresh & Easy by Tim Ashdown, a 31-year Tesco veteran.

Ashdown has held a variety of international positions at Tesco. Currently he's CEO of Tesco's operations in China. Before taking over in China, Ashdown was chief operating officer of Tesco-Homeplus in Korea. Prior to that was operations director at Tesco's global headquarters in the UK.

Paul Ritchie is replacing Tim Ashton as CEO of Tesco China.

Richie joined Tesco in 1980. He's been CEO of Tesco Kipa in Turkey for three years. Prior to that position he was head of development for the retailer's Tesco Express stores and business in the UK. Trevor Masters, Tesco's CEO for Asia, is also going to be spending more time in China, which is a key growth market for Tesco, Clarke said in the internal e-mail to company employees.

The changes involving Adams' move from Fresh & Easy to Tesco Kipa, along with those involving Ashdown and Richie were announced today by Tesco CEO Philip Clarke in an internal memo to company employees. Neither Tesco or its Fresh & Easy chain have publicly announced the leadership changes.

A Tesco source familiar with the reasons behind the move says it in part has to do with a desire by CEO Philip Clarke to bring in somebody new at Fresh & Easy who the believes has a strong operational focus and isn't afraid to "crack the whip" on store operations.

Shortly after he became CEO of Tesco in March 2011, Clarke, who ran Tesco's operations in Asia and Europe - Ashdown reported to Clarke at that time - announced that the United Kingdom-based retailer would break even with Fresh & Easy by February 2013. But when Tesco reported a $245 million loss for Fresh & Easy on April 18, Clarke announced it would instead push-back that date, saying it will now break-even with Fresh & Easy by early 2014.

The $245 million loss at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market for Tesco's 2011/12 fiscal year is only an $8 million improvement from the $253 million Tesco lost on Fresh & Easy two years ago. If Clarke's promise that Tesco will break even with Fresh & Easy by early 2014 were to come true, it would mean in just two years the retailer would be able to go from a $245 million loss this year to a zero loss by the end of February 2014.

United Kingdom-based Tesco transferred Jeff Adams, who at the time was the CEO of its Tesco-Lotus division in Thailand, to its then start up El Segundo, California-based Fresh & Easy chain in 2008 to co-direct (co-executive vice president of retail operations) retail operations with Brian Pough, who left Tesco and Fresh & Easy not long after Adams' arrival and currently is a senior retail executive with the Walgreens' drug chain, where he focuses on the food and grocery segment at its corporate hheadquarters in Illinois.

Following Pugh's departure, Adams was put in sole charge of Fresh & Easy's retail operations and given the title of executive vice president of retail operations.

Adams is the second senior executive to leave Tesco-owned Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in six months. In early November, Fresh & Easy Buzz broke the news that chief marketing officer Simon Uwins was out at the El Segundo-headquartered grocery chain. Following our scoop, which revealed the changes being made in the marketing department at Fresh & Easy, the grocery chain's spokesperson announced his departure.

Related Stories

September 22, 2008: Key Personnel Breaking News: Co-Vice President of Retail Operations Brian Pugh No Longer Employed At Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

May 29, 2008: Tesco Makes Official Announcement of Jeff Adams' Title and Position at Fresh & Easy Corporate; Confirms Our Report of March 5

March 12, 200: Breaking News: Tesco plc. Makes Major Personnel Change to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA Senior Management Team

November 10, 2011 Chief Marketing Officer Uwins Out in Top-Level Reshuffling at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

More Reshuffling: Number Two Marketing Exec Follows CMO Uwins Out the Door at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

Tesco's Fresh & Easy celebrated birthday number four November 9.



The top-level management reshuffling and integration of the marketing function into a new combination buying-merchandising-marketing department headed by chief customer officer and former chief commercial (buying and merchandising) officer John Burry continues at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

The latest departure from the Fresh & Easy's El Segundo, California headquarters is marketing operations director Paul Madarieta, who was the number two marketing executive in what was until a couple weeks ago the standalone marketing department.

Madarieta, now gone, reported directly to former chief marketing officer (CMO) Simon Uwins, who as we were the first to report in this story on November 10 left Fresh & Easy and Tesco in a top-level shakeup initiated by Philip Clarke, the CEO of Tesco, and Tesco group deputy CEO/chief marketing officer Tim Mason, who's also the CEO of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

Madarieta joined Fresh & Easy in late 2007 in a retail operations capacity. His title before moving into marketing was regional director of California stores.

He was later brought into the grocery chain's corporate marketing department by CEO Mason, who, according to our sources, believed his knowledge of retail operations, particularly in California, and high-level of enthusiasm would make him a good addition to the department and to the grocery chain's marketing efforts.

Mason, who since March of this year has been Tesco's chief marketing officer and deputy CEO, in addition to remaining CEO of Fresh & Easy, was the United Kingdom-based global retailer's chief marketing officer before coming to California in 2006 to start up Fresh & as its founding CEO.

Madarieta became Fresh & Easy's marketing operations director in January 2010.

As part of the shake up that resulted in Simon Uwins' leaving Fresh & Easy (see here), Madarieta was offered a lessor position in the new, combined department being headed up by John Burry, which he ultimately declined, instead leaving the 184-store fresh food and grocery chain, according to our sources.

Madarieta's position, like that of his former boss Simon Uwins, has been eliminated by Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood market recently posted an advertisement for a marketing analyst, a position that pays considerably less a salary than the former marketing operations director position, and a whole lot less than the chief marketing officer position formerly held by Uwins. The marketing analyst will work in the new joint commercial (buying-merchandising)-marketing department being headed up by chief customer officer John Burry.

Prior to joining Tesco's Fresh & Easy, Paul Madarieta spent a number of years working for iconic specialty grocer Trader Joe's, which Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has sought to emulate in a number of operational and merchandising ways, ranging from store size and look and its focus on private brands, to putting an emphasis on the wine category, among others.

Madarieta started out as a crew member (store clerk) at Trader Joe's. He later became a store captain (store manager), and from there was promoted to a regional vice president position with the Southern California-based grocery chain.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has hired a number of former Trader Joe's employees.

For example, Larry Biggerstaff, Fresh & Easy's current director of grocery buying and merchandising (reporting to John Burry), was the vice president of merchandising at Trader Joe's prior to joining El Segundo, California-based Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market last year, as we reported in this September 11, 2010 story - Ex-Trader Joe's VP, Winn-Dixie Exec Larry Biggerstaff New Director of Grocery at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

A number of category managers and buyers at Fresh & Easy also have previously worked for Trader Joe's, which is headquartered in the Southern California city of Monrovia.

For example, in the November 10 story about Simon Uwins' departure, we mentioned that three key mid-level headquarters employees had also recently left the grocery chain.

One of the employees who left in the last 60 days is Mei-Lon Jimenez, who until her departure was the category manager for bakery at Fresh & Easy, and prior to joining the grocery chain worked for Trader Joe's.

In her position at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, Jimenez played a significant role in the start up of the new in-store bakery departments the grocer is putting in many of its stores. We broke the news about the bakery development in this May 18, 2011 story. Fresh & Easy started the in-store bakery installations late this summer. It's on the record as saying its goal is to have the bakeries in about 100 of its 184 grocery markets by the end of this year.

The former Fresh & Easy bakery category manager is now working for the Coles supermarket chain in Australia.

We discovered she joined the down-under supermarket chain two weeks ago when Coles' posted her name on a portion of its website, listing her as its new category manager for cheese. A senior executive at the supermarket chain confirmed the posting. She started at the down-under chain last week, according to the source.

Coles' is headed up by former British supermarket executive Ian McLeod. Its senior management team includes numerous veterans of the food and grocery retailing business in the United Kingdom, including Tesco, as we detailed in this December 25, 2009 piece: It's 'British Invasion: The Sequel Down Under' For Former Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Director of Grocery Charlotte Maxwell.

Another related Coles-Tesco Fresh & Easy angle: Charlotte Maxwell, who worked for Tesco for nine years and was the director of grocery buying and merchandising at Fresh & Easy from 2006 until August 22, 2008, joined Coles in April 2009 as its general manager of deli and bakery, which includes cheese. Ironically, she left Coles (about 30 days ago) to pursue other occupational opportunities. (Click here to read about Ms. Maxwell's departure from Tesco's Fresh & Easy and her joining Coles in Australia.)

With the departure of the number one (Simon Uwins) and two (Paul Madarieta) marketing executives at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, chief customer officer John Burry has taken on the dual-responsibility for the corporate commercial (buying and merchandising) and marketing functions at the Tesco-owned chain, as we reported in our November 10 story.

Additionally, as we noted in the story, Tim Lee, who's been Fresh & Easy's director of fresh foods, reporting to Burry, is stepping in as a key player in the grocery chain's marketing efforts. He continues to report to Burry

Lee is being replaced as director of fresh foods by Ian Fletcher, who previously was in charge of Fresh & Easy's kitchen operation. He too reports to John Burry, as does Lee and director of grocery Larry Biggerstaff.

From a balance sheet (cost savings) perspective, Uwins' salary is being absorbed into Burry's, perhaps with a slight bump, while Madarieta's position and salary will essentially be absorbed by Tim Lee. As previously noted, the two marketing positions have been eliminated.

Tesco will report its 2011/12 fiscal year third quarter results on December 8, although it won't likely offer specific sales and loss numbers for Fresh & Easy, as it generally doesn't do so except when reporting half (interim) and full-year results.

On October 5, 2011 Tesco reported a fiscal 2011/12 half-year loss of $112 million for Fresh & Easy, on sales of $470 million. The loss is 21-23% (depending on how recorded) lower than the one reported for Fresh & Easy for the same period in the previous fiscal year.

The United Kingdom-based global retailer's CEO, Philip Clarke, says Tesco will break-even with Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market by the end of the 2012/13 fiscal year, which is 15 months away. The 2012/13 fiscal year ends February 2013. Tesco reports its sales and profits/loss for the year in April 2013.

Post Script: Take a look at prediction number 7 in this story from last year - December 30, 2010: Seven Predictions For Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market For 2011.

Also see these columns by our 'The Insider' columnist, all published before Philip Clarke became CEO of Tesco in March 2011:

>October 8, 2010: Incoming Tesco CEO Philip Clarke Needs to 'Imagine' When it Comes to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA

>September 13, 2010: Reading Philip Clarke's Tea Leaves: Might A Mixed Corporate/Franchise Model Be in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Future?

>June 12, 2010: Will Phil Clarke Shake Things up at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA When He Becomes Tesco CEO in 2011?

Additional Related Stories

November 17, 2011: 'Meat Guru'-Category Manager Bill Arnold Out at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

November 10, 2011: Chief Marketing Officer Uwins Out in Top-Level Reshuffling at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

October 27, 2011: Former Meat Buyer Wins $400,000-Plus Legal Judgment From Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

February 23, 2011: Incoming Tesco CEO Philip Clarke Visits America - And Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

February 28, 2011: Changing of the Guard: Clarke Takes Over the Reins as Tesco CEO Wednesday

Click on this link - Fresh and Easy headquarters personel changes - for more related stories.

[Photo credit: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.]

'Meat Guru'-Category Manager Bill Arnold Out at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

Bill Arnold, Fresh & Easy's "Meat Guru" is out.

Arnold, who Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market made the face of its in-store fresh meat offering in a marketing and public relations campaign over the last couple years, was, in addition to its meat category face and spokesman, the 184-store grocery chain's meat and seafood category manager, who was responsible on a day-to-day basis for procurement and merchandising.

Arnold left El Segundo, California-based Fresh & Easy last week to pursue another job opportunity in the food and grocery industry.

He joined Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market before the first stores were opened in November 2007.

Fresh & Easy has not publicly announced Arnold's departure, nor has it been reported in the grocery industry trade press or elsewhere, based on an extensive online search we did prior to publishing this story.

Arnold's leaving Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market wasn't directly related to the series of events that led to chief marketing officer Simon Uwings' departure last week, the news of which we broke on Thursday, November 10, in this story: Chief Marketing Officer Uwins Out in Top-Level Reshuffling at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

In the days following our detailed November 10 story, numerous mainstream business and grocery industry trade publications have published stories based on the information we first reported in Fresh & Easy Buzz, seeking and obtaining confirmation of our report from Fresh & Easy's corporate spokesperson.

Arnold's decision to resign his position however was influenced by and related to the changes happening at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which are detailed in our November 10 story, according to our sources. (We learned of and verified Arnold's departure last week. It was on Wednesday, November 9 that Fresh & Easy's CEO, Tim Mason, announced Uwins' departure during the grocery chain's weekly Town Hall meeting at the El Segundo office.)

Chief among those changes is the reality that since buying-out former in-house meat purveyor 2 Sisters Food Group last year (see our story here), and terminating its business relationship with seafood supplier Pacific Pride Seafood Inc. in June of this year, which we reported exclusively here, Fresh & Easy has shifted most of its meat and fish/seafood buying to its facility at the Riverside County, California campus/distribution center. That operation was formerly 2 Sisters Food Group and is now owned and operated by the grocery chain.

It's not clear at present if Fresh & Easy will replace Arnold and keep the meat and seafood category position, according to our sources, particularly because much of the procurement is now handled by the meat facility at the Riverside campus.

One option that's being consider, according to our sources, is to hire a buyer-merchandiser who would focus primarily on fish and seafood, which is a category Fresh & Easy wants to improve considerably and do more sales volume in.

Bill Arnold was a bit more than a category manager at Tesco's Fresh & Easy, however, at least in the eyes of its marketing department.

The grocer's marketing department, with CEO Tim Mason's blessing, made the meat man the face of the category to consumers in a series of marketing-oriented press releases, videos, posts in the corporate marketing blog and other venues.

For example, a July 1, 2010 post  in Fresh & Easy's "talking fresh" blog touts Arnold as "Fresh & Easy's Meat Guru." The post, authored by the meat man, talks about grilling meats, and is a promotional piece designed to stimulate sales of the grocers grill pack items for the July 4th holiday. [See the post: Thursday, July 1, 2010 GUEST BLOG: Fresh & Easy’s Meat Guru Bill Arnold.]

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market also produced the three minute video (at the top of this story) of "Meat Guru" Bill Arnold that's included in the July 1 blog post and was posted on its YouTube channel, which features the meat man in front of the meat case in a Fresh & Easy store, where he's touting the grocers own-brand meat and poultry grill packs for theJuly 4th holiday and summer grilling season.

Other marketing programs featuring the now departed Bill Arnold as "Fresh & Easy's "Meat Guru" included a public relations and event-oriented program just this summer as a way to encourage shoppers to buy the grocer's existing and new varieties of meat and poultry grill packs.

For example, as part of that campaign, this May 12, 2011 press release featured Arnold as "Fresh & Easy's Meat Expert."

In the release, which was distributed to media outlets in California, Nevada and Arizona and posted on the web, Arnold offers this advice in a quote: "As we move into summer, more people are coming together for barbecues, graduations, and picnics and everyone wants to find great deals on quality meats and veggies they can easily throw on the grill. We're expanding our grilling range to offer our customers even more choice meat options marinated with new and unique flavors, along with some great vegetarian options and sides."

Arnold, who's now gone, was also featured in a number of other promotions as "Fresh & Easy's "Meat Expert" or "Meat Guru."

In September of this year Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market paid a former meat category buyer named Kyle Weathersby $489,747,73 in a legal judgement, which was the result of a wrongful termination-employment discrimination lawsuit he filed and won against the grocery chain after being fired in 2008, as we reported here - October 27, 2011: Former Meat Buyer Wins $400,000-Plus Legal Judgment From Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

Prior to his dismissal from Tesco's Fresh & Easy, Weathersby reported to Bill Arnold, who as the meat and seafood category manager was responsible for the day-to-day procurement and merchandising of the products that comprise the respective product categories.

Chief Marketing Officer Uwins Out in Top-Level Reshuffling at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

Simon Uwins, chief marketing officer for Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market since early 2006 when the United Kingdom-based global retailer set up shop in El Segundo, California, is out as part of a top-level management reshuffling by Tesco's CEO, Philip Clarke, and Tim Mason, CEO of Fresh & Easy and Tesco group deputy CEO/chief marketing officer.

In addition to his position as chief marketing officer, Uwins was one of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's senior corporate officers. He reported directly to CEO Mason.

Mason announced Uwins' departure from Fresh & Easy and parent company Tesco Wednesday at the grocery chain's Town Hall meeting.

The Town Hall meetings, which include the full office staff and are broadcast to employees at the Riverside distribution campus, are held weekly at 1 p.m at Fresh & Easy's corporate office in El Segundo, California

Neither United Kingdom-based Tesco or Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has publicly announced Uwins' departure. As a matter of policy, Fresh & Easy doesn't announce when senior executives or employees at any level leave the company. Additionally, Fresh & Easy doesn't as a practice announce new hires at any level.

Simon Uwins, 52, was part of the original team of senior executives who came with Mason to set up and launch Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in 2006. Prior to that he worked at Tesco's global headquarters in Cheshunt, United Kingdom, where he was a marketing executive.

As part of Uwins' departure as chief marketing officer at Fresh & Easy, Clarke and Mason have reshuffled the organization chart, making a number of changes.

John Burry, Fresh & Easy's chief commercial officer (head of buying and merchandising), is assuming overall responsibility for both the commercial and marketing functions at the Tesco-owned fresh food and grocery chain.

Like Uwins, Burry is one of the original members of Fresh & Easy's senior management team. He is also a senior corporate officer of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

The commercial department has two directors - grocery and fresh foods - who report directly to Burry. Below them are category managers, who are direct-reports to the directors. The category managers have buyers and assistant buyers directly reporting to them.

One of the two directors (the other is Larry Biggerstaff), Tim Lee, the trading director for fresh foods (produce, meat, deli/fresh-prepared foods) is vacating that position and will be working with John Burry to transition the marketing function at Fresh & Easy into the commercial department, according to our sources.

Lee won't be replacing Uwins as chief marketing officer but rather assuming many of his day-to-day marketing management duties. He will continue to report to Burry.

Tim Lee came to Fresh & Easy from Tesco in the UK in early-2010, replacing Jim Jensen, who left to take a position heading up drug chain Walgreens' new at the time fresh foods program. Lee's focus at Tesco in the UK was as a produce category manager and director.

According to our sources, Lee has 9-10 months left on his original assignment contract at Fresh & Easy. He will be using that time in the new position, which straddles commercial and marketing, our sources tell us.

Ian Fletcher, who runs Fresh & Easy's fresh-prepared foods kitchen operation, is replacing Lee as director of fresh foods, according to our sources.

Fletcher, who originally worked in the UK, has been with Fresh & Easy for a number of years. His wife, Karen Fletcher, was the beer, wine and spirits category manager at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market from 2007 until this summer, when she resigned. She too previously worked for Tesco in the UK. The Fletcher's were married not long after coming to Fresh & Easy at the start up stage. John Burry was the best man at the their wedding in Hawaii.

Rounding out the reshuffling, Mark Lodge will take over management of Fresh & Easy's corporate kitchen operation when Ian Fletcher moves into the director of fresh foods position, replacing Tim Lee, according to our sources.

Lodge is currently an employee of the kitchen operation, which is Fresh & Easy's central commissary at the Riverside County, California campus facility, where the ready-to-eat and ready-to-eat fresh-prepared foods sold in its 184 stores in California, Nevada and Arizona are prepared and packaged.

From a balance sheet perspective, the reshuffling will save Fresh & Easy one senior-level executive salary and benefits package, which is that of the departed Simon Uwins. Some of that savings will be taken up by probable pay raises going to Ian Fletcher and Mark Lodge in their respective new positions. Tim Lee is likely a wash, and it's unlikely Burry will be getting a raise as part of assuming the overall responsibility for marketing, in addition to keeping his commercial department duties.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has lost a number of key middle management-level employees at its El Segundo, California headquarters over the last 60 days, according to our sources.

The employees include: a key director/manager in the grocery chain's logistics and supply chain department; a category manager/buyer who was playing a major role in heading up Fresh & Easy's new in-store bakery program, which is still in its infant stages; and a veteran-senior level  member of its information technology (IT) department.

All three of these employees left to take new jobs in the food and grocery industry, according to our sources.

Simon Uwins currently plans to remain in the U.S. rather than returning to the UK, according to our sources.

Tesco currently has no immediate plans to name a new chief marketing officer for Fresh & Easy either, our sources tell us, instead combining the marketing function and department with commercial under the direction of John Burry, as reported and detailed above.

Additionally, since Fresh & Easy's CEO, Tim Mason, is also Tesco's chief marketing officer and is based at the grocery chain's headquarters in Southern California, he will likely play a strong hand in the U.S. operation's marketing, since in the position, which he was named to in March of this year when Clarke became CEO of Tesco, he has the ultimate responsibility for all of Tesco's corporate marketing.

Therefore the new structure - no chief marketing officer at Fresh & Easy - has, at least theoretically, the effect of flattening the organizational chart at the senior level when it comes to the marketing function at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and the headquarters office in El Segundo, California, where Mason is based.

Director of Grocery Sean McCurley Leaving Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Return to Tesco in the UK

Breaking Buzz

Corporate director of grocery buying and merchandising Sean McCurley is leaving Tesco-owned Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to return to Tesco's global headquarters in Cheshunt, United Kingdom, where he worked prior to joining the U.S. fresh food and grocery chain as director of fresh foods, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned. Mr. McCurley was a member of the original group of Tesco executives and others who started up Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in Spring 2006.

According to our sources, McCurley is set to leave Fresh & Easy's El Segundo, California headquarters to return to work at Tesco in the UK as early as the end of this month, but no later than June 12.

We're told Sean McCurley is leaving Fresh & Easy on good terms with Tesco.

His specific new position at Tesco in the UK isn't clear. But it will be in the commercial (buying and merchandising) area.

McCurley was Fresh & Easy's director of fresh foods until August 2008, when he became director of grocery, replacing Charlotte Maxwell, who left Fresh & Easy and returned to the UK that month. [See - August 17, 2008: Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy's Director of Grocery Returning to the UK; Grocery Chain Reorganizing its Corporate Buying Department] [August 22, 2008: Special Report: Today Last Day For Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Director of Grocery Charlotte Maxwell; Moving Back to Tesco in the UK]

Charlotte Maxwell left the employment of Tesco not long after. She moved to Australia in the spring of 2009, joining a group of British supermarket industry veterans who took over management of Australia's Coles supermarket chain. [See - December 25, 2009: It's 'British Invasion: The Sequel Down Under' For Former Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Director of Grocery Charlotte Maxwell.

Sean McCurley has held the corporate director of grocery position at Fresh & Easy since Ms. Maxwell's departure in August 2008.

In December of 2009 Jim Jensen, the then director of fresh foods at Fresh & Easy, who was promoted to that position from a category manager slot in August 2008 to replace McCurley, left Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to accept a key position at Walgreens drug in its start up fresh-prepared foods program, as we were the first publication to report. [See - January 6, 2009: Breaking Buzz: Corporate Director of Fresh Foods Jim Jensen Leaves Tesco's Fresh & Easy] [January 15, 2010: Just-Exited Tesco Fresh & Easy Fresh Foods Director Jim Jensen to Head New Fresh Foods Initiative at Walgreens Drug Chain.] [January 21, 2010: Walgreens Announces Hiring of Former Fresh & Easy Fresh Foods Director Jim Jensen; Confirms Our January 6 Report]

Jensen was recruited to Walgreens by former Tesco Fresh & Easy vice president of retail operation Brian Pugh, who left Fresh & Easy in the summer of 2008. Pugh joined Walgreens, where he's currently vice president of merchandising, in 2009.

Jim Jensen's vacated director of fresh foods position was recently filled by Tim Lee, who came to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market from Tesco's corporate headquarters in the UK. Tim Lee was a corporate director of produce group procurement at Tesco in the UK prior to leaving to join Fresh & Easy as director of fresh foods.

Lee and another Tesco produce category procurement director, Alex Dower, launched Tesco's global fresh produce sourcing buying and supply chain initiative in about mid-2009. The initiative focuses on direct procurement of fresh produce for Tesco stores in the United Kingdom and continental Europe. Lee's responsibilities included setting up satellite offices in growing and sourcing regions around the world and staffing the offices with technical specialists and produce buying teams.

Dower left Tesco last year to join the London-based fresh-prepared foods-maker and retailer Pret A Manger, which in addition to having over 100 shops in the UK and eight in Hong Kong, has over 20 stores in New York City, one in Washington D.C. (soon to be two), and is opening its first ready-to-eat, grab-and-go fresh foods shop in the Chicago area in August of this year.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market divides its corporate buying and merchandising function into two departments - grocery and fresh foods. Internally it uses the British industry terms, which are "ambient" for grocery and "fresh" for fresh foods. Fresh foods at Fresh & Easy consists of produce, meats-seafood, dairy-deli and fresh-prepared foods. Everything that's ambient - dry grocery, non-foods and the like - is under the grocery department.

Sean McCurley's departure affords Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market the opportunity to hire a new corporate director of grocery buying and merchandising who has a strong background in U.S. food and grocery retailing in general and extensive experience (mixed with talent of course) in the Western U.S., particularly in California. Fresh & Easy's chief commercial officer (the British industry term they use for buying and merchandising) John Burry is from Tesco in the UK, as is recent arrival, director of fresh foods Tim Lee.

It will be interesting to see if Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason, who's also a Tesco plc corporate director, takes the above approach or if Tesco replaces Sean McCurley with someone from the UK, as in the case of Tim Lee replacing Jim Jensen. Jensen is an American who never worked for Tesco prior to being hired by Tesco's Fresh & Easy.

Tesco currently has 159 of its small-format (10,000 -to- 13,000 square-foot) Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market fresh food and grocery stores open and operating in California (Southern and the Central Valley areas of Bakersfield and Fresno), Metropolitan Las Vegas Nevada and Metro Phoenix, Arizona. In a November 27, 2007 presentation made in Southern California by CEO Tim Mason and his senior management team, Tony Eggs, Fresh & Easy's chief real estate officer, said there would be about 200 stores open and operating by February 2009. The grocer is about 60 stores shy of 200 units 15 months beyond February 2009, for those keeping count.

Breaking News: Mega-Drug Chain Walgreens Hires Former Tesco Fresh & Easy USA VP of Operations Brian Pugh For New VP of Format Development Position

U.S. drug store chain Walgreen's has hired former Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market co-vice president for operations Brian Pugh as the mega-chain's new vice president of format development, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned.

Pugh, who abruptly left Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA this summer, will focus on growing the consumables and related categories, such as food, groceries and household goods, in his new executive position at Walgreen's.

Walgreen's has been adding more food, grocery and household items to its drug stores over the couple years, as well as increasing the categories sku counts and promoting them more in recent months during the serious U.S. economic recession. Pugh will focus on increasing the consumables and related category development in the Walgreen's stores in his new corporate position.

Earlier this year Walgreen's also said it planned to create a new, smaller-format Walgreen's store. Typical Walgreen's drug stores are about 15,000 -to- 20,000 square feet. The new, smaller-format stores will be about 10,000 square feet -- and even smaller in some cases like those stores designed for dense urban regions; cities like New York, San Francisco and others.

The drug chain already operates some smaller-format stores in cities like San Francisco, where the available space and real estate costs in numerous neighborhoods make it logical to do so. However, those stores are basically scaled-down versions of a typical, bigger, Walgreen's drug stores. The new, small-format Walgreen's in most cases will be of a bit of a different, customized, format compared to these smaller versions of the basic Walgreens stores.

Although he was primarily hired to focus on the consumable and related categories overall for Walgreen's, Pugh's experience in small-format retailing also will be utilized by Walgreens as it roles out its new small-format drug stores selectively in the U.S.

Pugh, came from the United Kingdom with Tesco Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason and a number of other former British Tesco executives to start up Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA in Southern California. He was the sole senior vice president for operations for Fresh & Easy until Tesco transferred its former CEO of Tesco-Lotus, the company's Thailand division, to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market headquarters in El Segundo, California to share the title and duties of senior vice president of operations with Brian Pugh.

Both men held the title co-senior vice president for operations until September of this year, as we were the first publication to report in this piece: "Key Personnel Breaking News: Co-Vice President of Retail Operations Brian Pugh No Longer Employed At Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market," Pugh suddenly left Fresh & Easy.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has never commented publicly on the reasons for Brian Pugh's leaving the grocery chain. Additionally, Fresh & Easy Buzz has been the only publication to date to write about it.

In addition to hiring former Fresh & Easy executive Brian Pugh, Walgreen's also made two additional new hires to its senior corporate team.

The drug chain hired Colin Watts as vice president and president of the Walgreens' Health and Wellness disease management business, which helps patients coordinate their care, continue treatments and practice healthy behavior. He is the former president of Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Healthcare Worldwide business and most recently worked as vice president and general manager of the U.S. business of Campbell Soup Co.

Additionally, Walgreen named Jeffrey Zavada, a national vice president of health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc., as vice president and chief sales officer. He will be responsible for selling health services to health insurers and other health plan sponsors.

A Walgreens' corporate spokesperson has confirmed the drug chain's hiring of Brian Pugh, as well as the the two others, to Fresh & Easy Buzz.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has been following a retail store location strategy, which we call "critical mass," that is modeled strongly on the strategy used by drug store chain giant Walgreens.

For Fresh & Easy that strategy is to open numerous stores within a short distance of each other in specific market regions like Southern California, Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada and in the Phoenix, Arizona Metro region market. Walgreens uses this strategy near nationwide in the U.S.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy also has been co-locating many of its small-format, combination grocery and fresh foods stores next to or near Walgreens drug stores in both existing and new shopping centers in its Southern California, Southern Nevada and Phoenix, Arizona region markets.

These two facts make Brian Pugh's new job at Walgreens both an occupationally and operationally synergistic one in at least those two aspects to his previously position at Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA. One could say not only that has he landed -- but that he has done so at a bigger retailing airport, in terms of store count and annual sales in the U.S.

Related stories from Fresh & Easy Buzz:

>Monday, September 22, 2008: Key Personnel Breaking News: Co-Vice President of Retail Operations Brian Pugh No Longer Employed At Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

>Wednesday, March 12, 2008: Breaking News: Tesco plc. Makes Major Personnel Change to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA Senior Management Team

>Thursday, May 29, 2008: Tesco Makes Official Announcement of Jeff Adams' Title and Position at Fresh & Easy Corporate; Confirms Our Report of March 5

>Saturday, March 29, 2008: Tesco's Fresh & Easy 'Taking a Pause' From New Store Openings: A Full Review In the Works

>Friday, August 22, 2008: Special Report: Today Last Day For Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Director of Grocery Charlotte Maxwell; Moving Back to Tesco in the UK

>Sunday, August 17, 2008: Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy's Director of Grocery Returning to the UK; Grocery Chain Reorganizing its Corporate Buying Department

>Sunday, August 17, 2008: Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Experiencing A Category Manager and Buyer 'Brain Drain'

Key Personnel Breaking News: Co-Vice President of Retail Operations Brian Pugh No Longer Employed At Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

Brian Pugh, Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's co-vice president of retail operations has left the company, according to information obtained by Fresh & Easy Buzz.

Additionally, we've independently and directly verified Mr. Pugh no longer works for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market at its corporate headquarters in El Segundo or elsewhere for the grocery chain.

Brian Pugh left Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market around the first week of this month, close to the the Labor Day holiday.

In addition, Brian Pugh's wife, who worked for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and whom he met while both worked at the corporate headquarters office in El Segundo, also is no longer with the company, leaving at about the same time he Pugh did.

Mr. Pugh was one of the original Tesco Plc. executives who came to the U.S. to start up the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market small-format, convenience-oriented, combination basic grocery and fresh foods chain.

Others key senior corporate executives who in addition to Brian Pugh came from Tesco's United Kingdom or other international divisions to Southern California to start-up Fresh & Easy, and who remain in positions with the company, include CEO Tim Mason, director of marketing Simon Uwins, Tony Eggs, who's head of the retailer's store development program, and others.

As we reported in August, Charlotte Maxwell, who came from Tesco's UK operations to head Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's grocery merchandising department, recently returned to Tesco-UK to accept a director-level position there. Her title at Fresh & Easy corporate was director of grocery merchandising.

On March 12, 2008, we reported in this piece, "Breaking News: Tesco plc. Makes Major Personnel Change to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA Senior Management Team ," that Tesco was reassigning Jeff Adams, the then CEO of Tesco-Lotus in Thailand, to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to share the vice president of retail operations position and duties with Brian Pugh.

Nearly three months later, as we reported in this May 29, 2008 story, Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market confirmed in a press release our March 12 report that Jeff Adams had joined Fresh & Easy at the El Segundo corporate office and that he would be sharing duties with Brian Pugh; both men holding the title of co-vice president of retail operations.

In the May 29 piece we discussed how unusual of an arrangement having co-vice presidents of retail operations is for a grocery chain, commenting in the story that time will tell how such an arrangement works out.

Less than four months later, Mr. Pugh has left Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. Jeff Adams now is the vice president of retail operations for the chain, holding that title alone.

We haven't learned the specific reason Brian Pugh left Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, at least not to the verification standards we employ in reporting on Fresh & Easy Buzz. Further, we aren't suggesting Mr. Pugh's departure had anything to do with the relationship between him and Jeff Adams or the fact they shared the position.

However, we have learned two things. First, according to sources in the UK in a position to know, it appears Mr. Pugh no longer works for Tesco Plc. Additionally, we've learned Brian Pugh's departure from Fresh & Easy corporate was rather abrupt -- that he hadn't discussed with any co-workers having any plans to leave the company, nor that he was leaving to accept another job opportunity in the industry or elsewhere.

Mr. Pugh's voice mail at Fresh & Easy's El Segundo office still works. However, it doesn't have his recorded voice on the system. Additionally, his company mobile phone no longer works. An employee verified he no longer works for the company.

Brian Pugh is the latest in a long line of Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market headquarter employees to leave the grocery chain this year.

As we reported in this August 17, 2008 story, "Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Experiencing A Category Manager and Buyer 'Brain Drain'," five category managers and buyers have left the company in just a four -to- five month period -- from February -to- June, 2008 -- this year.

Additionally, about 11 category managers and buyers overall have left Fresh & Easy since it set up shop at the corporate office in El Segundo, California about two year's ago.

Further, as we mentioned above, and reported in this piece on August 17, 2008, " Special Report: Tesco Fresh & Easy's Director of Grocery Returning to the UK; Grocery Chain Reorganizing its Corporate Buying Department," Charlotte Maxwell, who was the director of grocery merchandising since Fresh & Easy launched in the U.S., recently left, returning to the UK to accept a director level position with Tesco there. Ms. Maxwell is a British citizen. [Click here for an addition story on Charlotte Maxwell's departure from Fresh & Easy.

Brian Pugh has a prior working history with both Jeff Adams, who up until this month he shared the vice president of retail operations title and position with, as well as with Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason.

Those who know both Mr. Pugh and Mr. Mason describe them as friends. Jeff Adams and Brian Pugh worked closely together in the past at Tesco-Lotus in Thailand. Both men also are former employees of Wal-Mart, Inc.

Since Brain Pugh and Mr. Adams shared the vice president of retail operations position, we don't expect there to be a major problem in terms of Jeff Adams' getting up to speed on the portion of the shared duties that belonged to Mr. Pugh.

However, Brian Pugh did have an institutional memory of the chain since he was part of Fresh & Easy's start up. That knowledge could be a loss to the grocery chain, along with other aspects of his knowledge and experience.