Giant Eagle Pres./COO John Lucot New Topco Chairman

Topco Associates, LLC recently held its annual membership conference, Feb. 24–26. During the two-day meeting, Topco announced the election of its 2016 board of directors, effective immediately. Members of Topco’s board of directors serve a two-year term.

John Lucot, president/COO of Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle Inc., has been unanimously elected as chairman of Topco Associates' board of directors. Lucot replaces Randy Edeker, chairman, CEO and president of Hy-Vee, who previously served a three-year term as Topco’s chairman.

Lucot has served as Topco’s vice chairman since June 2015 and has served as a member of the retail food group purchasing organization's board since 2012. In his role as chairman, Lucot will help represent more than 50 Topco members to aggregate volume, innovate industry best practices and share collective knowledge to compete more effectively in the marketplace.

“Giant Eagle has been a Topco member for many years, and I look forward to working with each member to align to Topco’s structure and processes that will facilitate an environment for all of us to truly partner together,” said Lucot. Giant Eagle, which ranks 35 on Forbes magazine’s largest private corporations list, has been a Topco member-owner since 1962 and presently participates in many programs, including frozen, grocery, HBC/GM, dairy/bakery, fresh meat, branded meat, produce, national brands and indirect spend.

Following his term as chairman, Edeker will continue to serve Topco as a member of its board of directors in 2016. “We have a strong board that supports this organization, and a great chairman coming in," said Edeker. "John is a very insightful leader, a smart leader and someone who is committed to doing an outstanding job on behalf of Topco."

Chris Coborn, president and CEO of Coborn’s Inc., was elected vice chairman of Topco's board and will serve a two-year term. He has been a Topco board member since 2014.

Aside from the above retail executives, Topco's 2016 board of directors includes:

• Brad Brookshire, chairman/CEO, Brookshire Holdings Inc.
• Jay Campbell, Jr., president/CEO, Associated Grocers Inc.
• Charlie D’Amour, president/COO, Big Y Foods Inc.
• Dennis Eidson, president/CEO, SpartanNash Co. 
• Scott Grimmett, president/CEO, Golub Corp./Price Chopper
• Randy Skoda, president/CEO, Topco Associates LLC
• Steve Smith, president/CEO, KVAT
• Pete Van Helden, president/CEO, Stater Bros.

Based in Elk Grove Village, Ill., the $15 billion Topco Associates is privately held and provides aggregation, innovation and knowledge management solutions for its leading food industry member-owners and customers, including grocery retailers, wholesalers and food service suppliers.