Rite Aid appoints new CEO

Jan 24, 2010 (Datamonitor via COMTEX) -- Drugstore operator Rite Aid has promoted John Standley, president and COO, to president and CEO, effective June 24, 2010. Mary Sammons, currently the company's chairman and CEO, will continue as chairman.

Mr Standley's promotion is part of the company's executive succession plan and was approved at a regularly scheduled meeting of Rite Aid's board of directors. Ms Sammons will remain Rite Aid chairman until the company's annual meeting in June, 2012.

Mr Standley returned to Rite Aid in September 2008 as president and COO after leaving in August 2005 to become CEO and board director of Pathmark Stores. He originally joined Rite Aid in December 1999 as executive vice president and CFO, part of a new executive management team that also included Ms Sammons. He has served as a member of the Rite Aid board of directors since June 2009.

Prior to Rite Aid, Mr Standley served in key executive financial positions at various retail and grocery companies including Fleming, Fred Meyer, Ralph's Grocery and Smith Food & Drug Centers. He is a member of the board of governors of the Children's Miracle Network.

Ms Sammons joined Rite Aid in December 1999 as president and COO, was named president and CEO in 2003 and named chairman and CEO in 2007. Before joining Rite Aid, she was president and CEO of Fred Meyer Stores, a food, drug and general merchandise retailer in the Pacific Northwest and a unit of Fred Meyer.

Ms Sammons has served on Rite Aid's board of directors since joining the company and is a director of StanCorp Financial, president of the Rite Aid foundation and a member of the executive committee of the national association of chain drug stores.

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