The Boston Globe
Customers filled the checkout lines at the reopened North Andover Market Basket on Aug. 22, 2025. Ben Pennington for The Boston Globe
May 7, 2026 | 5:00 AM
2 minutes to read
Market Basket last Thursday selected veteran manager Chuck Casassa as the grocery store chain’s next president, replacing Arthur T. Demoulas, whom the board fired last year.
Here’s a primer on what to know about Casassa, 64.
Lifelong company ties
His ties to Market Basket run deep, having started with the company in 1976 as a bagger at the age of 14, according to a company statement.
He rose through the ranks, serving as a front-end manager, merchandiser, and assistant manager before being promoted to store manager in 1987, the Tewksbury-based company said.
Key 2017 promotion
In 2017, Casassa climbed the ladder again, this time to the role of grocery supervisor overseeing more than 25 stores, the company said.
Last year, he was promoted to director of operations for the company, which has about 90 stores across New England.
“Mr. Casassa’s leadership and dedication to Market Basket over the past 50 years is highly valued by the Board, and we cannot be more proud to have him serve as our President,” said the board’s chair, Jay K. Hachigian.
During last year’s leadership battle, a key moment
In August, Casassa vouched for a letter that had been signed by 58 workers at the company’s corporate headquarters indicating some aspects of the culture had improved since Demoulas and other top leaders were placed on leave, before Demoulas was fired.
Casassa said in a statement at the time that he had been “approached by many associates wanting to sign this letter to set the record straight.”
“More associates would have signed this letter but for the fact that it is August and people are on vacation or are out at the stores,” he added.
Prior support for Demoulas
Back in 2014, when Demoulas was battling a prior effort to force him out, Casassa had signaled strong support for the embattled leader.
“Outsiders never really grasp what we do, how we work, what we feel, and right now we are being directed by outsiders,” Casassa had said at the time in a posting on a “Save Market Basket” Facebook account. “I do not know them, they do not know me. Someone that I do know is Arthur T. Demoulas and I would like to state why he has my full support as CEO.”
Casassa said then that Demoulas “has his finger firmly on the pulse of every facet of our company, its operations, its employees, its customers, its suppliers and its competitors. We all work very hard but no one has more tireless dedication to his position than ATD. He has a keen sense of where our company has been, where it is today, and where we need to go to succeed and compete in the future.”
A strong reputation
Casassa has earned his slot in the corner office with consistently high performance throughout his decades with the company, according to the statement.
He “earned a reputation for knowing and caring for Market Basket customers and associates, as well as mastering operational details,” the statement said.
Hachigian said Casassa represents “the very best of Market Basket.”
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.
