Albertsons adds Levi Strauss finance chief Harmit Singh to its board, expanding it to 15 members

Albertsons Companies, Inc. said on October 15, 2026 that it appointed Harmit Singh, currently executive vice president and chief financial and growth officer of Levi Strauss & Co., to its board of directors effective immediately, lifting the board to 15 members from 14. Singh will join the Audit & Risk Committee and the Governance, Compliance and ESG Committee on October 26, 2026, and his term runs until the company's 2027 annual meeting of stockholders or until a successor is elected and qualified.

A finance chief joins an asset-heavy retailer

Albertsons gains a director whose day job is running the finance and growth agenda of another consumer brand. At Levi Strauss & Co., Singh oversees finance, investor relations, information security, strategic sourcing, real estate and franchise expansion, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, and he leads the company's global productivity initiative, which targets structural economics. He helped lead Levi Strauss back to the public markets in 2019 and the expansion of its global retail footprint. Before that he was executive vice president and chief financial officer of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, where he led the company's initial public offering, and he spent 14 years at Yum! Brands in roles including chief financial officer of Yum! Restaurants International and Pizza Hut. He also serves on the boards of Planet Fitness and Sutter Health, and previously served on the boards of The AZEK Company, OpenText Corporation and Buffalo Wild Wings.

The company he is joining runs an asset-heavy network. As of September 12, 2026, Albertsons operated 2,240 retail stores, 1,709 in-store pharmacies, 408 associated fuel centers, 22 dedicated distribution centers and 19 manufacturing facilities, across 35 states and the District of Columbia under 22 banners; in 2025, with its foundation, it contributed $497 million in food and financial support. Real estate, franchise expansion and productivity work sit on Singh's Levi Strauss remit, and those are the levers a large grocery footprint turns on.

"We continue to strengthen our board with capabilities that support Albertsons' next phase of growth," said Meg Whitman, executive chair of the board. She added: "Harmit's experience improving performance and creating value at complex, consumer-facing companies will be an important asset as we advance our strategy and strengthen execution." Susan Morris, Albertsons' chief executive, called Singh "an accomplished executive whose experience spans finance, strategy, operations, technology, real estate and global consumer brands," and said: "His track record of accelerating growth, improving business performance, scaling store and franchise networks and guiding public companies through complex transformations will bring valuable perspective to our board as we create long-term value for all stakeholders."

Independence, pay and a second cohort of directors

Three governance details do real work in this filing. The board determined that Singh is independent under the New York Stock Exchange's corporate governance rules. The filing reports no arrangements or understandings between Singh and any other person under which he was selected as a director, no family relationships with any director or executive officer, and no transaction requiring disclosure under Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K. His pay is the existing non-management director compensation described in the proxy statement for the 2026 annual meeting, filed June 22, 2026, pro-rated for his partial year of service.

Singh is the second group of new directors in three weeks. Albertsons announced the appointment of William P. Boltz, Chris Drumgoole and Margaret M. Ham on September 30, 2026, and on October 15 the board fixed their committee roles, effective October 26, 2026: Boltz to Audit & Risk and Finance, Drumgoole to Technology, Ham to Audit & Risk and Compensation. Singh's arrival lifts the board 7.14% to 15 members from 14.

The event is a governance filing, not an earnings report

This current report was filed under Item 5.02, which covers the departure, election and appointment of directors and officers, and the exhibit attached to it is a board announcement. It carries no revenue, margin, earnings per share or guidance numbers, and Albertsons' third-quarter results are not in these documents. Several items a reader might expect are also absent: Singh's age, the dollar value of the pro-rated director compensation, how the board filled the seat, and any share-price reaction. None of that was disclosed, and this article does not assert it. The board's next scheduled accountability point is the 2027 annual meeting, where his term expires.