BOISE, ID - After just over a year in the role, Safeway’s head of the Eastern Division, Dan Valenzuela, has left to “pursue other opportunities,” parent company Albertsons said. The Washington Business Journal reported that the retailer has named Jim Perkins, Albertsons' Executive Vice President of Retail Operations and Special Projects and President of the Acme Stores Division, the new President of Safeway’s Eastern Division in Valenzuela’s stead.

While an anonymous Safeway executive reported to sources that the division has seen some decline, Perkins "knows the business, understands the market, and connects with people on a very positive level."

The division now under Perkins’ care encompasses 125 stores spanning Virginia, D.C., Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

He has spent the last 30 years as a “pacesetting leader” in the grocery industry, the retailer says on its website, adding that he has a passion for the grocery business. He started out as an Albertson’s courtesy clerk in 1982, developing into a key leader for throughout several areas of the country.

Perkins had left Albertsons to joined Giant Foods, LLC as a Regional Vice President, returning to the retailer’s ranks in 2012 as the President of Acme Markets.

He has served as Vice President of Operations for Albertsons Inc., and Director of Operations for Albertsons LLC’s Southern Division, and was named to his EVP of Operations, East Region role in April 2015.

Albertsons operates stores under the Safeway, Acme, Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Lucky, Shaws, and several others.

Albertsons Safeway