Albertsons Names Fonterra's Andrew Murray as CFO Effective Jan. 17

Albertsons Companies has named Andrew Murray CFO, effective Jan. 17, 2027, filling a post left open since Sharon McCollam announced her retirement in July. Murray joins the Boise, Idaho-based grocer from Fonterra Co-Operative Group, the farmer-owned New Zealand dairy exporter, where he serves as group CFO.

He succeeds Cody Perdue, who has held the role on an interim basis since Sept. 30. Perdue will remain with the company as senior VP of treasury, investor relations and risk management. McCollam, who served as president and CFO since 2021, stays in an advisory role through the end of the fiscal year on Feb. 27, 2027.

Susan Morris, CEO of Albertsons Companies, framed the hire as a turnaround move.

"Andrew is a highly respected senior leader with strong expertise in driving profitable growth and large-scale business transformation which will be invaluable during this critical turnaround time at Albertsons," Morris said.

Morris said she expects to work with Murray and the leadership team to simplify the organization, improve decision-making and reinvest savings in customer value. That agenda gives the new CFO a concrete mandate: cut structural complexity, then redirect the proceeds toward price and value for shoppers.

What does Murray bring to the role?

Murray joined Fonterra in 2023 as CFO, global markets, and became group CFO in 2024. He oversees finance, strategy, mergers and acquisitions, transformation, information technology, financial trading, shared services and procurement — a portfolio that maps closely onto the breadth of his new job at Albertsons. He will relocate from New Zealand to Boise before January.

His earlier career spans food and consumer products, logistics and manufacturing. Before Fonterra, Murray was CFO at Simplot Australia, responsible for finance, corporate strategy, legal and information technology. He also led global finance transformation at Toll Group and held senior finance roles at Mondelez International — first for Australia and New Zealand, then for the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region.

"Albertsons has a significant opportunity ahead, and I am pleased to be joining the company during this important time," Murray said.

Murray holds a bachelor's degree with honors in accounting and economics from the University of Strathclyde. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and completed Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program.

What does the change mean for a 35-state footprint?

Murray takes the finance seat at a retailer with substantial fixed infrastructure. Albertsons operates 2,240 stores across 35 states and the District of Columbia, supported by 1,709 in-store pharmacies, 408 fuel centers, 22 distribution centers and 19 manufacturing facilities.

Its 22 banners include Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb and Randalls. Morris's stated plan to simplify the organization suggests Murray's M&A and transformation record will be tested against a portfolio of that scale.

For suppliers and marketing partners, the significance is timing. With the CFO transition complete in January and McCollam's advisory window closing Feb. 27, 2027, Albertsons' leadership team enters the new fiscal year with a finance chief whose brief explicitly ties cost simplification to reinvestment in customer value — a signal of where trade dollars and margin priorities are likely to head.