The man who ran Amazon's Prime membership program will now be spending more of his time at Whole Foods.
Greg Greeley, VP of Amazon Prime and delivery experience, recently told some employees he'll be spending more time at Amazon-owned Whole Foods, focusing on the two companies' integration, CNBC has learned.
Greeley will primarily focus on making Amazon Prime a major part of Whole Foods' customer rewards program.
Neil Lindsay, VP of worldwide marketing at Amazon, will take on most of Greeley's responsibilities at Prime, according to a source.
"We are working with the team at Whole Foods Market to deliver tremendous value for Prime members at Whole Foods Market and Greg Greeley will be facilitating that effort (among other things)," an Amazon representative said in response to a CNBC request for comment about Greeley's move. "Both the established Amazon Prime and Whole Foods Market teams remain unchanged."
In related news, Amazon said Thursday that it will offer two-hour grocery delivery from Whole Foods through its Prime Now service in select cities.
Greeley is the first high-profile Amazon executive known to be spending time at Whole Foods, the grocery chain Amazon bought for $13.7 billion last year. His move shows growing integration between the two companies.
During Amazon's earnings call last week, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said Prime is expected to be rolled out in Whole Foods stores possibly by the end of this year.
"We've launched Whole Foods products on our Amazon website, and the technical work continues to make Prime the Whole Foods customer rewards program, and we expect to have more on that later in the year," Olsavsky said.
Launched in 2005, Prime is Amazon's paid-membership program that gives access to a number of benefits, including free two-day shipping, unlimited video streaming and online storage space. Amazon hasn't disclosed the number of Prime members, but market research firm CIRP estimates it to be over 90 million in the U.S. alone.
A 19-year veteran at Amazon, Greeley has spent the last four years running Prime. Under his leadership, Prime thrived to become one of the most successful customer loyalty programs anywhere, and added new services like Prime Now, a one-hour delivery option, and Prime Day, Amazon's one-day annual shopping event. He has also held positions in Amazon's international and finance departments.
Since the acquisition, Amazon has dropped prices of certain items at Whole Foods and added some Whole Foods products online. But a recent report by Business Insider said some Whole Foods employees are complaining about a new inventory management system designed to cut down on food waste.
