An Affair to Remember

PG’s 2013 Top Women in Grocery celebration is evolving with value-added offerings and sweet surprises that promise to make this year’s event shine as brightly as those to whom it’s dedicated.

Progressive Grocer’s 2013 Top Women in Grocery awards celebration, set to take place Tuesday, Nov. 5, at the Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, Ill., is shaping up to be a top-notch star-studded affair that promises to eclipse the success of past years’ dinner-only program with new enhancements and a first-rate educational and networking experience.

A first-ever afternoon agenda has been added to the lineup for attendees of PG’s Top Women in Grocery event with renowned presenter Harold Lloyd, followed by dynamic peer group discussions facilitated by some of the industry’s foremost women leaders, who are experts on critical issues of professional advancement and career development of women in the retail food industry.

To enable Top Women in Grocery recipients — including Senior-Level Executives, Rising Stars and Store Managers — to clearly identify the 10 common qualities genuine leaders tend to possess, PG has enlisted Lloyd to kick off the afternoon educational platform that will precede the evening gala celebration dinner and awards presentation, at which the Food Marketing Institute’s president and CEO, Leslie G. Sarasin, will emcee.

Lloyd will kick off the afternoon of learning at 1:00 p.m., by presenting his enlightening and provocative session, “Am I the Leader I Need to Be?” which promises to deliver a powerful message and actionable takeaways for participants. Reflecting on the theme of his presentation, Lloyd says:“Most leaders have asked themselves this question at one time or another. Establishing a clear, objective, quantifiable answer to this all-important question, however, is a real challenge for many.”

Whether leading a committee, a department, a church group, a little league team or a small business, “genuine leaders excel in 10 distinct and measurable areas,” affirms Lloyd. In a step-by-step process, Top Women in Grocery attendees “will have an opportunity to quantifiably determine their ‘leadership score,’” he continues, “and more importantly, identify the specific qualities necessary for improvement to raise their score in the future.”

Following Lloyd’s session, a panel of senior industry executives will be introduced to Top Women in Grocery participants in advance of segmented peer group breakout sessions, during which attendees will share candid conversations about critical issues on the minds of working women today, ranging from professional development and career advancement, to pointers and guidance on top-of-mind challenges and opportunities.

Throughout the morning and afternoon prior to the gala dinner — the platinum sponsor for which is Kraft — event guests of honor are invited to visit the Procter & Gamble (P&G) Beauty and Grooming Lounge for some well-deserved pampering. Top Women guests will also have the chance to sample some of P&G’s most on-trend beauty and grooming products while enjoying a few extra-special surprises as well.

Following the dinner and awards celebration — other key sponsors for which include Anheuser-Busch and Wahl Clipper Corp. — The Hershey Co. will host a scrumptious after-dinner dessert party for Top Women honorees and guests, which promises to be an especially sweet highlight following a valuable day-long lineup of first-rate learning, networking and discovery.

PG/NEW 2013 Trailblazer: Safeway’s Renda

Larree M. Renda, EVP of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway, will be honored during the awards program with the distinguished Trailblazer Award. Sponsored by PepsiCo and jointly presented by Progressive Grocer and the Network of Executive Women (NEW), the Trailblazer Award, established in 2012, recognizes a single food industry executive whose leadership, vision and influence have had profound influences on blazing new trails for women in the retail food industry.

As one of Safeway’s top female executives, Renda is responsible for all retail strategies and a broad range of administrative functions for one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America. Her responsibilities include retail strategy, labor relations, public affairs, communications, government relations, health initiatives, human resources, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, philanthropy, industrial engineering, re-engineering, information technology and real estate.

During the course of her career, Renda has been widely recognized as an innovator and a change agent on a range of different fronts. For example, she and her team managed Safeway through the longest labor dispute in the history of grocery retailing in Southern California in 2003 and 2004 — permanently changing the retail food landscape nationally.

Under her leadership, Safeway developed the first state-of-the-art satellite communication system with the speed and capacity to reach each of the company’s retail and support facilities. Renda is credited with a range of other initiatives, including the company’s service strategy that continues to rank Safeway among the elite service providers in American business. Among her other achievements: She is responsible for creating and driving Safeway’s corporate social responsibility strategy, as well as a major initiative that resulted in a record-setting eight-plus years of cost reduction.

A multiyear Top Woman in Grocery winner, Renda oversees two of Safeway’s wholly owned subsidiary corporations: Safeway Health Inc., a business venture created to provide assistance to other companies in their efforts to create a culture of health and better health options for their employees, and Property Development Centers Inc., a shopping center development company.

Renda also is a member of the board of directors of Casa Ley, Safeway’s joint venture in Mexico, and serves as chairwoman of The Safeway Foundation, which oversees the grocer’s charitable giving activities. Under Renda’s direction, Safeway annually contributes nearly $200 million to a range of charitable initiatives, including food banks, education, and breast and prostate cancer awareness and research, as well as other health services and organizations supporting people with disabilities, such as Easter Seals, Special Olympics and MDA.

A staunch supporter of PG’s Top Women in Grocery awards program since its inception in 2006, Renda has also lent vigorous support to NEW’s programs and mission over the years.

From a 16-year-old working part-time bagging groceries at her local Safeway store, Renda has spent nearly 40 years building a high-powered career at one of the nation’s leading grocery chains. As she progressed through Safeway’s ranks, Renda was often the first woman and/or youngest person to hold each successive new job, including her promotion to SVP in 1994 and her subsequent appointment as Safeway’s first female EVP in 1999. In 2001 and 2002, she was voted one of the “50 Most Influential Women in Business” by Fortune magazine. She also earned the distinction of being the youngest store manager, district manager and retail operations manager in the company’s 87-year history.

“In appreciation and recognition of her tireless efforts to advance women through the ranks at Safeway, coupled with her commitment to advancing extraordinarily worthwhile causes on behalf of the company in countless local communities, we are pleased and very proud to honor Larree Renda as our 2013 Top Woman in Grocery Trailblazer,” said Meg Major, Progressive Grocer’s chief content editor.

“Safeway has long been a strong supporter of NEW and our mission to attract retain and advance women in the retail and consumer goods industry,” said Joan Toth, NEW president and CEO. “Larree is a leader who personifies our mission and has actively worked to ensure that Safeway is developing its women leaders.”

Safeway President and CEO Robert Edwards also had high praise for Renda.

“Safeway congratulates Larree on this well-earned and prestigious recognition. We are proud to have benefited from her commitment, the game-changing innovations she and her team have brought to the industry, and her strong support of women in every rank and position in this industry and beyond. She is a true trailblazer,” Edwards said.

In addition to her core leadership duties at Safeway, Renda — a widowed mother of three — is active in several community organizations. She’s a board member of HSBC Finance Corp. and HSBC North America Holdings Inc., and also serves on its audit and risk committees. In addition, she is a member of the board of regents for the University of Portland and serves as a trustee on the National Joint Labor Management Committee. As the first woman inducted into the California Grocers Association Hall of Achievement in 2008, she was also the first (and to date the only) woman named Food Industry Executive of the Year, in 2009, by the USC Marshall Food Industry Management Program. Additionally, Renda served as chair of the California Chamber of Commerce in 2010 and continues in her role as a board and executive committee member.

Lynn Marmer, group VP, corporate affairs for The Kroger Co., was honored by PG and NEW in 2012 as the first-ever Trailblazer recipient. As Kroger’s first female officer, Marmer serves on the executive management team and oversees a broad and diverse scope of areas, including corporate sustainability, external communications, social responsibility, media relations, government, community and consumer affairs, and corporate contributions on behalf of The Kroger Foundation.

PG’s 2013 Top Women in Grocery awards program marks the seventh year the national trade publication has recognized the invaluable contributions of women from all walks of the retail food industry in three categories: Senior-Level Executives (open to retailers, suppliers and wholesalers with titles of VP or higher); Rising Stars (retailers, suppliers and wholesalers with job titles above store manager, but below VP); and Store Managers.