Departing Southeastern Grocers LLC President and CEO Ian McLeod will join Dairy Farm International Holdings Ltd. on Sept. 18 as the group chief executive.
Dairy Farm Management Services Ltd., which announced the appointment, is incorporated in Bermuda and its management and corporate office is based in Hong Kong.
Dairy Farm is a leading pan-Asian retailer that operates about 6,500 outlets, including supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores, health and beauty stores, home furnishings stores and restaurants.
It employs more than 180,000 people in 11 countries and territories and reported 2016 revenue exceeding $20 billion.
Dairy Farm is listed on the London Stock Exchange with secondary listings in Bermuda and Singapore.
It is a member of the Jardine Matheson Group, a diversified business group focused principally on Asia.
McLeod succeeds Graham Allan, who will step down Aug. 31 after five years with Dairy Farm.
In 2015, McLeod joined Jacksonville-based Southeastern Grocers, whose brands include Winn-Dixie, Bi-Lo, Harveys and Fresco y Mas.
Southeastern Grocers says it is the fifth-largest conventional supermarket chain in the U.S. and the second-largest conventional supermarket in the Southeast, based on store count.
It operates more than 730 grocery stores, as well as liquor stores and in-store pharmacies, in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina.
It employs about 60,000 people.
Dairy Farm said McLeod has more than 30 years of experience in retailing.
“Ian brings with him extensive strategic and operational retail experience with a strong track record of driving profitable growth,” said Dairy Farm Chairman Ben Keswick in the release.
Dairy Farm said McLeod spent his early career with Asda in the United Kingdom and Germany before joining the Halfords Group in the United Kingdom in 2003, where he was named chief executive.
He joined Coles in Australia in 2008, becoming managing director and “oversaw a significant improvement of the business,” the release said.
McLeod came to Southeastern Grocers in March 2015.
According to dairyfarmgroup.com, the company dates to 19th-century Hong Kong.
Dairy Farm operates under several brands in Asia, including Ikea, GNC, 7-Eleven, Giant, Rustan’s Supermarket and Mannings.