Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. announced Gilliam Phipps will join the company as senior vice president, chief marketing officer, effective Tuesday, April 14, according to a release.

Mr. Phipps will report directly to Sprouts chief executive officer Jack Sinclair and will oversee Sprouts’ marketing, advertising, customer engagement and private label teams.

“We’re extremely pleased to welcome Gil to the Sprouts team,” Mr. Sinclair stated in the release. “The experience Gil brings will be instrumental in shaping Sprouts’ long-term strategy to build brand awareness and loyalty with our core shopper, including strengthening and defining our private label business.”

Mr. Phipps brings more than 20 years of experience in marketing strategy, branding, and product/private label development to Sprouts. He most recently served as vice president of branding, marketing and “Our Brands” at The Kroger Co., where he joined as vice president of “Our Brands” in 2012.

Prior to joining Kroger, Mr. Phipps spent over 11 years at H-E-B where he held various positions, including most recently as a director of “Own Brand” where he oversaw branding, innovation, product development, packaging and design.

Before that, he led new product development and category management for national CPG brand Hormel Foods. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in English and philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin.

“I am extremely humbled to join Sprouts, a brand that I’ve long admired for innovation and purpose,” Mr. Phipps stated in the release. “Providing communities access to healthy, affordable foods is more important today than ever before, and I look forward to helping the brand connect even further with customers nationwide in meaningful ways with the products they need and desire.”

Headquartered in Phoenix, Sprouts employs more than 30,000 team members and operates about 340 stores in 23 states from coast to coast.