International food retailer Ahold Delhaize announced today the appointment of Jan Ernst de Groot for the newly created role of Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO).

In his new role, de Groot will be responsible for advancing the company’s vision, strategy and goals across environmental sustainability, healthy eating, social impact, ethics, human rights and governance.

According to Ahold Delhaize CEO Frans Muller, the appointment will ensure that sustainability and ESG are represented at the company’s Executive Committee level.

Muller added:

“For a long time, sustainability has a central position in our organization. It is one of our four key strategic focus areas, and a critical driver of our purpose: Eat well. Save time. Live better. Our activity and performance in this area are attracting increasing interest from customers, (future) associates, investors and other stakeholders.”

de Groot has been serving as Ahold Delhaize’s Chief Legal Officer, an Executive Committee position, since 2016, and will retain the role’s responsibilities. He has also held executive-level roles at companies including logistics provider TNT and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

de Groot, said:

“At Ahold Delhaize, we want to lead the transition to a sustainable food system. I look forward to working with Daniella Vega, our SVP Health & Sustainability, and other senior leaders across our organization to further define the right, ambitious and future-oriented strategy and ensure execution and delivery of our targets, for the betterment of society as a whole.”