Stockholm / SE. (ica) Per Strömberg has chosen to leave Sweden’s ICA Gruppen AB (publ.), where he has served as CEO since 2012. He will leave his CEO role on 31 December 2022. The Board of Directors has appointed Nina Jönsson as the new CEO. She is currently CEO of Plantagen, with more than 20 years of experience from various senior positions in the retail and food industries. At the beginning of 2023, Per Strömberg will be proposed as member of ICA Gruppen’s board of directors.
«I am very happy that Nina Jönsson has accepted the job as CEO of ICA Gruppen,» comments Claes Göran Sylvén, Chairman of ICA Gruppen. «With the combination of her broad background from both supplier and retailer operations, she has unique experience that is required for the role as CEO of ICA Gruppen. Nina has also demonstrated strong leadership that is grounded in delegating a strong sense of responsibility and mandates out in the organisation, empowering people to act with speed. In addition, Nina also has a broad foundation of business knowledge and perhaps most important of all is a highly regarded former leader within ICA with a keen understanding of the ICA model, having served for six years as Director of Assortment and Buying for ICA Sweden.
«Per’s time as CEO has given ICA a very strong strategic platform and has elevated the level of professionalism in all of ICA’s work. This can be seen in the fine performance that the company has had over the last ten years. We are therefore also very grateful that Per has accepted a proposed seat on the ICA Gruppen board to provide continuity going forward. At the same time, this marks a good time to now make a shift. The main strategies that the company is pursuing remain in place. By the same token, new times and market conditions are giving rise to new challenges that require that we constantly adapt.»
Per Strömberg, departing CEO of ICA Gruppen comments: «I had set a goal to serve at ICA for a long period of time when I started in 2012, and I feel that ten years amply meets this goal. With the ownership change that was announced last autumn, I felt it was important to stay on and lead ICA Gruppen through the process and contribute to its journey of change. We have now made good progress on this path, and it therefore feels like the right point in time for me to conclude my operational role at the same time that I am very happy to hand over the leadership role to Nina Jönsson. I feel a great sense of commitment to ICA and therefore look forward to continuing as a director on ICA Gruppen’s board.»
Nina Jönsson, CEO-elect of ICA Gruppen effective 01 January 2023, comments: «It will be very exciting to return to ICA Gruppen, and of course it feels extra stimulating to take on the role as CEO. I have always been motivated by working closely with consumers, and in this regard ICA is the strongest force in the industry. Through its grocery retail, pharmacy, banking, insurance and real estate businesses, ICA contributes in so many ways to people’s daily lives. In the Baltic countries, Rimi has equally strong and important customer relationships. What I am looking forward to most of all is working together with all of ICA’s employees and retailers to continue developing the ICA Idea, ICA’s entrepreneurial spirit and its customer focus.»
ICA Gruppen has also announced the appointment of a new CEO of ICA Sweden and a new CEO of Apotek Hjärtat. See separate press release:
«In view of the changes that have now taken place, I am proud that we have managed to make internal appointments for all of these key roles within ICA Gruppen, where I also include Nina Jönsson, given her background with ICA,» says Claes-Göran Sylvén, Chairman of ICA Gruppen. «This shows that our focus on internal mobility and that the succession process that we work with allow us to build leaders for our most important roles. I am very enthusiastic and happy about the leaders, employees and retailers in the ICA family as we now take on the future in a highly exciting and challenging time.»
