Meet the woman tasked with steering Aldi to new heights
When Anna McGrath took the reins from former local Aldi boss Tom Daunt, he told her: “Don’t hold back.”
Daunt’s recent elevation to run part of the global discount empire from Salzburg, Austria, has resulted in McGrath landing the top job at Aldi Australia, where she has plans to keep taking share from larger incumbents.
She is the first female CEO in the German supermarket chain’s 62-year history, joining the ranks of Leah Weckert, also the first female CEO to lead Coles Group, and Natalie Davis, who heads up Woolworths supermarkets.
New Aldi Australia CEO Anna McGrath at the Rosebery store in Sydney. Dominic Lorrimer
McGrath is very familiar with Aldi’s no-frills model after a career spanning 17 years in Australia and the United States, with the retailer best known for its discount specials every Wednesday and Saturday, with items ranging from motorcycle helmets to yoga mats and winter ski gear.
“I learnt from Tom very much by osmosis. When I came back from the US, Tom said, ‘We’re going to lead this organisation together’, and he really meant it,” she tells The Australian Financial Review in her first interview since taking over as chief executive.
“When he handed over the reins, he said to me, ‘Don’t hold back.’ At the time, I wasn’t sure what he meant, but he was really giving me permission to inject my unique leadership style into the strategy and the leadership of the business that he and I put together.”
The pair worked closely over the last couple of years – Daunt as CEO and McGrath as group MD – to devise a strategy that includes highly automated distribution centres along the east coast; an overhaul of IT systems, including a rollout of electronic shelf labels and self-checkouts; and a focus on fresh foods at
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