Brookshire Brothers announced on Monday that Jerry Johnson will step down as President and CEO at the end of April 2017. He will continue as a member of the Lufkin-based grocer’s Board of Directors.

John Alston, the current Chief Operating Officer and a 35-year veteran of the company, will succeed Johnson as President and CEO.

Johnson joined the company’s Board of Directors in 1997. He was a member of the team that assisted the company in becoming a majority employee-owned company in 1999 and began full time as the company’s Chief Administrative Officer at that time. During his tenure, Johnson served as Chairman of the Board from 2003 through 2007 at which time he assumed his current role of President and CEO with Milton Hixson becoming the chairman of the management board.

Under Johnson’s leadership, Brookshire Brothers grew from 69 supermarkets throughout East Texas and Western Louisiana to its current 114 stores, and from a family-owned company with 5,700 employees to becoming 100% employee-owned with nearly 7,000 employee-owners.  On Johnson, John Alston states “Jerry’s legacy as a great leader is firmly embedded in the hearts and minds of our Brookshire Brothers’ family.  From transitioning the company from private family ownership to an ESOP, Jerry has worked tirelessly as an advocate for our employee-owners.”

Alston has served as a Store Director, District Director, Chief Operating Officer and member of its Board of Directors. “John has the leadership ability and experience to lead our company through the challenges ahead and has the confidence of both the Board and Brookshire Brothers’ employee-owners,”Johnson said in a press release. 

Brookshire Brothers was founded in 1921 and became a majority employee-owned company in 1999. In 2006, the employees bought the remaining shares of the company to become one of the largest 100% employee owned companies in the country. 

John Alston, Current Chief Operating Officer
Future President and Chief Executive Officer