FMI Honors 6 Food Industry Leaders

1/26/2020

Bristol Farms President and Co-CEO Kevin Davis (center), recipient of the Sidney R. Rabb Award, was one of six food industry leaders honored during FMI's Midwinter Executive Conference

FMI –The Food Industry Association presented 2020 Executive Leadership Awards at its Midwinter Executive Conference in Phoenix to six food industry innovators for their investments in talent, customers and the transformation of the business environment.

“The food industry is a people business; in our operations, there are three necessary virtues that make the food industry a noble enterprise: customer service, community support and an investment in people,” noted Leslie Sarasin, president and CEO of Arlington, Va.-based FMI, which recently rebranded. “Each of our honored leaders possess these virtues and have established industry-influencing legacies of enriching the lives of those in the communities they serve.”

The honorees are as follows:

Sidney R. Rabb Award: Kevin Davis, president and co-CEO, Bristol Farms, Carson, Calif.

Widely recognized for his commitment to education, community philanthropy and business sense, Davis has grown Bristol Farms from three stores to a multiformat specialty grocer with 21 high-end, unique and successful stores. In 2016, he received FMI’s Robert B. Wegman Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence.

William H. Albers Award: Al Carey, North America CEO (retired), PepsiCo Inc., Purchase, N.Y.

Having retired from his role in March 2019 after nearly 40 years, Carey was recognized for facilitating collaboration between brands and retailers, as well as front-line associates, that trickled directly down to the consumer.

Robert B. Wegman Award: Mark Skogen, president and CEO, Festival Foods, De Pere, Wis.

Third-generation grocer Skogen encourages novel in-store experiences with programs such as Mealtime Mentors, which leverages technology while retaining personal customer-concierge services to maintain loyalty with shoppers. Festival Foods also sponsors various community events each year, all employing imaginative ways to engage shoppers and communities.

Herbert Hoover Award: Henry Johnson, president (retired), W. Lee Flowers & Co., Scranton, S.C.

With Johnson at the helm, W. Lee Flowers supported the Boy Scouts of America, Boys & Girls Club, Harvest Hope Food Bank and various other civic organizations.

Glen P. Woodard, Jr. Award: Craig Boyan, president, H-E-B, San Antonio

Boyan is a proponent of H-E-B’s involvement in the annual FMI/National Grocers Association Washington, D.C., fly-in, during which important issues such as payments and tax reform are covered with members of Congress so that they understand the influence wielded by the food industry. In 2019, under his leadership, FMI played a key role in redefining how the courts interpret “confidential business data.”

Esther Peterson Award: Natalie Menza-Crowe, RD, MS, director of health and wellness, Wakefern Food Corp., Keasbey, N.J.

Menza-Crowe, who joined ShopRite in 2005 as the organization’s first corporate dietitian, creates dynamic programs that educate and inspire consumers and associates to embrace the importance of healthy eating to make balanced nutritional decisions. She oversees ShopRite’s retail dietitian program, encompassing about 110 stores and addressing the health-and-wellness needs of shoppers right in the aisles.

With 400 stores in Texas and Mexico, H-E-B is No. 6 on Progressive Grocer’s 2019 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States. Together with its member companies, Wakefern, the largest retailer-owned cooperative in the United States, is No. 8 on PG’s 2019 Super 50 list.