Stater Bros. promotes Gil Salazar to Chief Information Officer

Gil Salazar has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer for Stater Bros. Markets.

Salazar led the company’s efforts to overhaul its aging IT and technology infrastructure including the successful rollout of Emerald Point of Sale (POS) systems. He is currently spearheading the company’s transition to a more modern Human Capital Management (HCM) system and preparing for the implementation of a game-changing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Additionally, Salazar has led the buildout of the company’s enterprise data foundation strategy including the development of a cloud-based enterprise data lake, a master data management platform and innovative business intelligence tools and capabilities.

“Today, a company’s technological infrastructure and its ability to analyze business data have an extraordinary impact on its competitiveness,” said Van Helden. “With Gil’s enhanced role, we will continue to build upon the solid technological foundation that he facilitated and be positioned well for the future.”

In his expanded role, Salazar will lead a newly created Enterprise Data Management team which will be comprised of a Business Intelligence Center of Excellence (BICOE), Data Science, Data Engineering and Data Governance teams. The new Enterprise Data Management team will be tasked with delivering data-driven insights through reporting and visualizations, extracting timely insights to support rapid decision-making, and ensuring and improving data quality.

Salazar has nearly 35 years of IT experience and has been a member of the Stater Bros. team for eight years. He originally joined them as Assistant Director Operations/Technical Support in 2013. After a brief period exploring other opportunities, Salazar returned to Stater Bros. in 2016 in the role of Vice President Information Technology. In 2020, he was promoted to his most recent position of Senior Vice President Information Technology. Prior to joining Stater Bros., he served in various senior-level leadership roles at companies such as Hyundai Capital America, ConAgra Foods, AIG and Ford Motor Credit.

Salazar holds a Master of Science in Food Industry Leadership from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Liberty University. He completed the Computer Information Systems Program from the United States Naval Technical Training Center and served four years in the United States Navy during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Southern Watch. Salazar is also a graduate of the USC Executive Management Program and a member of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. Additionally, he serves on the Stater Bros. Charities Board of Directors.