Michal Lagunionek has been appointed as the 4th CEO of Lidl since the company established a foothold in the U.S. during 2015.  He replaces Johannes Fieber in assuming the position.  Lagunionek stated, “I look forward to working with the Lidl U.S. team to continue to strengthen and grow our store network and provide shoppers across our communities with incredible quality and unbelievable prices every day.”  Lidl has not grown as originally projected and prior to the appointment of Fieber there was talk of the company withdrawing from the U.S.

Lagunionek is a member of the Schwarz Group Management Board.  He was previously responsible for operating Lidl operations in Poland between 2006 and 2016 before returning to Lidl headquarters in Germany.  In early-2020, Lidl announced that it would open 50 U.S. stores by the end of 2021 requiring a $500 million investment to eventually reach the 150-store mark.  The company successfully acquired and converted Best Market and Shoppers Food locations in New York and Washington respectively, but Covid restrictions obviously impacted execution of the expansion plan.