Haggen, a West Coast regional grocery chain that is in the midst of an aggressive expansion in Southern California, has named five senior executives in its Pacific Southwest division.

Rich Winters, formerly vice president of sales and business development for Sun Pacific in Pasadena, CA, has been appointed vice president of fresh foods. Prior to Sun Pacific, Winters was vice president of retail merchandising and marketing for the Northern California division of Safeway.Bill Shaner, chief executive officer of Haggen’s Pacific Southwest division, in the produce department of the chain’s new store in the La Costa neighborhood of Carlsbad, CA.

The other senior executive appointments include Wendy Oliver, senior vice president of operations, who previously was vice president of the Southern California division of Albertson’s; Chris Linskey, senior vice president of marketing, a veteran of the Vons chain; Jaime Prager, vice president of center store, who was formerly director of Hispanic category management for Smart & Final in Los Angeles; and Melina Ranii, vice president of human resources, who formerly was director of recruitment and development for Trader Joe’s in Monrovia, CA.

“Each of our leaders has extensive experience in the grocery business as well as professional and personal connections to the Southern California marketplace,” Bill Shaner, chief executive officer of Haggen Pacific Southwest, said in a press release. “You couldn’t ask for a stronger group to lead our historic rollout of 100 stores in 100 days.”

Haggen first opened its doors to Southern California shoppers on March 11 in Carlsbad, followed by two additional stores in El Cajon. Three additional San Diego area stores were scheduled to open by March 22.

On March 24, Haggen will open its first store in Los Angeles County in Palmdale, and its debut Orange County location in Laguna Beach. On March 31, Haggen will open its first two stores in Kern County in Bakersfield, and its first San Bernardino location in Chino Hills.

These stores are the first of 83 California stores Haggen plans to acquire and convert to the Haggen brand in the first half of 2015. Once the acquisition is completed, the grocery chain will expand from 18 stores with 16 pharmacies to 164 stores with 106 pharmacies; from 2,000 employees to more than 10,000 employees; and from a Pacific Northwest company with locations in Oregon and Washington to a major regional grocery chain with locations in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and Arizona.

Twenty-six Washington store conversions began in mid-February, and 20 Oregon store conversions were scheduled to begin the third week of March. The seven Nevada and 10 Arizona stores will be the last to convert in the late spring. Each week, between one and 12 stores will be converted.