GMA to Honor Publix's Ed Crenshaw With Achievement Award

The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) will honor Ed Crenshaw, of Publix Super Markets, with its GMA Hall of Achievement Award in July.

The Hall of Achievement Award, GMA’s highest honor, recognizes the service and extraordinary contributions of distinguished food, beverage and consumer packaged goods industry leaders. Crenshaw, who retired earlier this year as Publix CEO, will be presented with the award at GMA’s Leadership Forum in July at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

“Ed Crenshaw is a giant in our industry and a true gentleman, respected by colleagues and competitors for his innovative leadership of Publix, his commitment to collaboration, and his dedication to customer service and to his employees,” said Pamela G. Bailey, president and CEO of Washington, D.C.-based GMA. ”It will be an honor for GMA to present him with the 2016 Hall of Achievement Award.”

Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix, one of the largest supermarket chains in the country, operates more than 1,100 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina. The company has been honored as one of the top 100 companies to work for in America and recognized as one of America's most admired companies.

Crenshaw joined Publix in 1974 as a stock clerk, and worked in all areas of store operations, including store manager, as well as buying and retail operations.  He paved the way for the company’s expansion across state lines as VP for the Atlanta division, and became EVP of retail in 1994, attained the role of president in 1996 and took over as CEO in 2008.

In the community, Crenshaw has served with the Kidney Foundation of Central Florida, the Central Florida Speech and Hearing Center, the Polk County Museum of Art, the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce, the Polk County School Board Business Commission and the Lakeland Regional Medical Center.  He is board chairman of overseers for the Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise at Florida Southern College, and is a member of Florida’s Council of 100. He has served on the board of GS1-US and is a member of the board of Food Marketing Institute.

A native of Mineral Wells, Texas, Crenshaw graduated from Baylor University in Waco. He and his wife, Denise, have two adult children and three grandchildren.