King Soopers and City Market will have a new president as it continues to reel from a union strike and is still under contract negotiations.

The Kroger-owned grocery brand based in Colorado announced Chris Albi, vice president of operations, will succeed Joe Kelley as president beginning May 1.

Kelley has been president of King Soopers since 2021, and under his leadership, the grocery chain has been hit by two workers’ strikes in 2022 and 2025. The most recent strike ended in February after 12 days with no new contract and a deal to have 100 days of peace to resume negotiations.

Union leaders have threatened to strike again after the period if a contract agreement isn’t reached.

Kelley was promoted within Kroger to become senior vice president of retail divisions.

“Joe is a customer-centric leader who brings broad industry experience, with a strong track record of making stores great places to shop,” said Ron Sargent, Kroger CEO, in a press release.

Albi is from Colorado and began working at King Soopers in 1981 as a courtesy clerk, the grocery chain said in a press release.

She has had several leadership positions for Kroger including grocery director, director of natural foods, vice president of merchandising and vice president of operations in both Michigan and Oregon and was president of grocery-chain QFC, which is based in the Seattle area.

“Working alongside Chris over the past 3 years, I’ve seen firsthand her passion and dedication – she is deeply connected to the division’s identity, strategy and associates,” Kelley said in a statement. “There’s no one better suited to lead the company in this new and exciting chapter, and I’m excited to see how she will continue to elevate the business and inspire our teams.”

A King Soopers spokesperson said in an email that the promotions won’t affect negotiations as Albi has already played a large role.

“Chris has been heavily involved with bargaining since we began negotiating with Local 7 in October and will continue to participate in the process,” the spokesperson said.

Albi has been recently appearing in company videos sent to employees updating staff on contract negotiations, standing next to Kelley.

In the most recent update on April 10, the two leaders claimed the local union United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 was stalling negotiations again.

“Since we started bargaining with Local 7 in October of last year, the Kroger family of companies has already settled multiple contracts across the country,” Albi said.

“But Local 7 seems to believe that dragging negotiations out even longer will somehow lead to a better deal,” Kelley later added. “That’s just not true.”

Last week, King Soopers and the union leaders made “minor progress” and reached tentative agreements on scheduling and full-time status, though “much work remains to reach a full agreement,” according to the company’s latest update.

The union and the grocer are scheduled to return to bargaining Thursday.

In their most recent video update, also posted on April 10, union president Kim Cordova said they’re “not interested in any of their offers right now.”

UFCW Local 7 criticized Kroger’s CEO for hiring Kelley who they blame for pushing them to strike twice, according to a statement sent Thursday after the story was published.

“Mr. Kelley was not running our stores in a way that was good for either workers or shoppers,” said Conor Hall, a deli worker in a Boulder store. “But honestly Kroger’s the one calling the shots so changing who oversees King Soopers in Colorado without making real changes for how the company is run won’t do anything.”

Cordova stated while it doesn’t affect negotiations much, she said Albi’s promotion is an opportunity to “reset the company’s relationship with workers.”