The board of directors at Market Basket on Thursday named a new president, picking veteran manager Chuck Casassa for the job long held by popular boss Arthur T. Demoulas until the board fired him last year.
Chief financial officer Don Mulligan filled in on an interim basis as the company’s top executive after the board terminated Demoulas in September. Now, after 43 years with Demoulas Super Markets, the corporate name for the Market Basket chain, the board is announcing that Mulligan is retiring. Mulligan has been with the company since getting hired under Demoulas’s father, working his way up through the ranks to be named CFO in 1999.
The personnel moves at the Tewksbury company, which employs around 33,000 people, follow a showdown in Delaware Chancery Court between Demoulas and the board of directors.
The board claims Demoulas didn’t share budgetary information with the board and was fomenting dissent to protect his job, much like what happened in 2014 when Demoulas clashed with a different group of board members. Demoulas, meanwhile, says the company thrived under his direction and he’s being sidelined because of clashes with his three sisters, who together control more than 60 percent of the company, while Demoulas controls 28 percent.
Last week, Judge Travis Laster issued an opinion in the board’s favor, basically saying the three board members were well within their rights to fire Demoulas. The decision followed a three-day trial in December, in which Demoulas was fighting to be reinstalled as the chain’s CEO.
The corporate clash between Demoulas and the board, which had been happening behind the scenes for several years, spilled out into the public view last May when the board suspended Demoulas to investigate rumors about discussions of a possible work disruption, similar to the 2014 boycott and walkout. No walkouts or major boycotts ended up taking place this time around.
Now, leading this chain of 90 supermarkets will be up to Casassa, who has been with the company for more than 50 years, starting at Market Basket at age 14 as a bagger. Casassa was promoted to director of operations in July 2025.
Demoulas was the company’s president and chief executive, but the board is not naming a chief executive at this time.
“Mr. Casassa embodies the very best of Market Basket,” board chair Jay Hachigian said in a statement. “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.”
Jon Chesto can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @jonchesto.
