Associated Wholesale Grocers names new CEO

Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc. has named David Smith as president and chief executive officer, beginning in January.

Smith, currently the grocery cooperative’s executive vice president of operations, will succeed Jerry Garland.

Garland joined Associated 25 years ago and has been president and chief executive since 2009. During his tenure, Associated’s sales grew by 31 percent while net income increased by 70 percent amid lower operating expenses, the organization said in a statement.

He helped the Kansas City, Kan.-based organzation grow into a $9 billion cooperative that operates nine distribution centers, supplying more than 3,400 grocery stores in 26 states. Garland will remain with the organization as an advisor, the statement said.

Smith joined Associated in 2003, and opened the cooperative’s gulf coast division in Louisiana in 2013.

Steve Rosen/srosen@kcstar.com

This story was originally published August 24, 2015 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Associated Wholesale Grocers names new CEO."