Colleen Lindholz, president of Kroger Health, is retiring after 31 years with the nation's largest traditional supermarket chain — closing a career that reshaped how a major grocer thinks about nutrition, pharmacy, and community health.
Lindholz joined Kroger in 1995 as a staff pharmacist in the Cincinnati-Dayton division. Over the following two decades she moved through a series of pharmacy management and marketing roles before being named president and CEO of the Little Clinic in 2015. Two years later she was elevated to president of Kroger Health, the umbrella organization overseeing the company's pharmacy, nutrition, and health services arms.
The Food as Medicine Legacy
Industry observers credit Lindholz with two signature contributions that have influenced grocery and foodservice health strategy well beyond Kroger's store base. The first is Kroger's Food as Medicine initiative, a data-driven framework connecting dietitians, pharmacists, and physicians with shoppers to use diet as a clinical tool. The second is the Nourishing Change movement, a community-facing platform designed to improve food access and nutritional literacy across the markets Kroger serves. Both programs put the grocer at the leading edge of a broader industry shift toward viewing the supermarket as a healthcare touchpoint — a trend that has since spread across the retail food and hospitality sectors.
"Colleen is truly passionate about improving the health of communities across America," said Mary Ellen Adcock, Kroger's Chief Marketing and Merchandising Officer. "Throughout her career, she championed ways to help families live healthier lives by eating better-for-them foods."
Recognition and Industry Impact
During her tenure, Kroger Health was named the 2022 Mass Market Retailer's Retailer of the Year, and the Kroger Family of Pharmacies earned recognition as a Forbes Best Customer Service Company. Lindholz herself accumulated a long list of industry honors, including recognition among Modern Healthcare's top women leaders in 2023 and MMR Influential Woman designations in both 2024 and 2025. She also served as chair of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and is executive chair of the American Heart Association's Heart Mini, reflecting the degree to which her influence extended beyond Kroger's corporate walls.
Kroger has not yet named a successor to lead Kroger Health. For operators across foodservice, grocery, and hospitality watching the intersection of nutrition science and retail strategy, the transition represents a meaningful moment: the executive most responsible for embedding health and wellness into a major chain's commercial identity is moving on, leaving the question of how Kroger will carry that mission forward very much open.
Food & Beverage Magazine (https://fb101.com/?utm_source=rhfnews&utm_campaign=powered_by) has tracked the broader Food as Medicine trend as it has gained traction with foodservice operators, hospital cafeterias, and ingredient suppliers looking to align product development with clinical nutrition goals.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
