Live From FMI Midwinter: Grocery Leaders Take Top Honors
Four giants of the grocery industry were honored for their lifetime of achievements during the gala awards banquet on the first night of the Food Marketing Institute’s 2015 Midwinter Conference, Saturday night in Miami Beach.
David Dillon, the recently retired chairman and CEO of The Kroger Co., was bestowed with FMI’s highest honor, the Sidney R. Rabb Award, for his excellence in serving the consumer, the community and the industry.
ConAgra Foods Inc. CEO Gary Rodkin received the William H. Albers Award, recognizing his exemplary business partner relation within the retail food industry.
IGA Inc. Chairman Dr. Thomas S. Haggai received FMI’s Herbert Hoover Award, recognizing his longtime humanitarian service in the food retail industry.
And Steve Smith, president and CEO of Food City, received the Grocery Manufacturers Association's 2015 Industry Collaboration Leadership Award.
Dillon: A respected leader with vision and charisma
Recognizing Dillon’s achievement and their longtime professional relationship, FMI President and CEO Leslie Sarasin remarked, “Dave is a respected leader in the larger food retail industry and consistently highlights the role of constructive feedback, believing that giving it establishes you as an informed leader and receiving it helps you become a better leader. A person of great vision and charisma, his passion for nurturing future leaders for the food retail industry was evident in his spearheading FMI’s 2013 Future Connect Conference, an event dedicated to developing those identified with leadership potential.”
His leadership is reflected in the 37 years he dedicated to the food retail industry, focusing on nearly every aisle and role in the store. Dillon served as Kroger’s chairman from 2004 to 2014 and as CEO from 2003 to 2013. Prior to that, he held a variety of executive positions at Kroger and Dillons Cos., which merged in 1983.
Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO, described Dillon as “a grocer’s grocer,” noting, “You are to me what the Rabb award is all about – somebody that cares about our industry, cares about people, and cares about Kroger and all the things in between.”
Dillon was instrumental in developing Kroger’s “Customer 1st Strategy,” which today has resulted in 44 consecutive quarters of positive identical store sales growth. While Dillon served as CEO, Kroger increased revenue $45 billion, created 53,000 new jobs, reduced costs for eight consecutive years, and returned $9.2 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends.
Kroger has also become a leader in supermarket sustainability under Dillon’s leadership. Kroger reduced energy consumption in stores by 33 percent since 2000 and its carbon footprint by 4.4 percent since 2006. Notably, more than half of the company’s 37 manufacturing facilities are zero waste.
In 2011, Forbes recognized Kroger as the most generous company in America. Kroger’s efforts to feed families struggling with hunger grew to total contributions of 250 million meals – 4 million meals per week – annually.
And in 2013, Progressive Grocer recognized Kroger, under Dillon’s leadership, as its Retailer of the Year.
Rodkin: Ideal qualities of a business partner
Rodkin’s role as GMA chairman led to the evolution of the FMI-GMA Trading Partner Alliance, a joint-industry working group aimed at streamlining business efficiencies along the food manufacturer and retailer supply chain. He was integral among FMI and GMA leadership to enact new programs and protocols, most notably regarding health and wellness, center store and sustainability initiatives.
“Gary embodies the ideal qualities in a business partner, and he’s ultimately focused on serving the end consumer,” Sarasin said. “I’ve been fortunate to work alongside Gary for many years, and he never loses sight how he’s going to work with his retail business partner to deliver on a promise to the shopper.”
Rodkin joined ConAgra Foods in October 2005 and transformed it from a holding company into one unified operating company. Under his leadership, the ConAgra Foods Foundation has continued to lead the fight against child hunger in the U.S., a cause the company has been committed to for more than 20 years. Prior to joining ConAgra, Rodkin was chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Beverages and Foods North America.
Haggai: Architect of human spirit
Sarasin commented, “Dr. Haggai is a true architect of the human spirit. He motivates, inspires and builds communities in his work with independent operators. Honoring him tonight is honoring a global legacy of achievement within our industry.”
Haggai is often touted as the only non-grocery retailer to sit on the board of IGA. A radio personality, author, minister and business consultant, Dr. Haggai has contributed a notably diverse perspective to the board of IGA since 1972 and as board chairman since 1976. He often celebrated the creative minds at IGA to media and in his addresses, and once touted IGA as a think tank due to the talent at the helm of the organization. Under his advisement, Haggai helped to introduce IGA in Japan and Australia in the late 1980s; but he also identified strong domestic growth opportunities, especially within cities like Philadelphia and Cincinnati where IGA continues to enjoy a strong presence.
Sarasin noted, “It was his business influence that earned Dr. Haggai the FMI Sidney R. Rabb award in 2003, but it is his commitment to youth, education and the community for which he earns the Hoover award more than a decade later.”
Haggai founded Tom Haggai and Associates (THA) Foundation in 1963 with 120 national business and professional leaders as associates. According to published reports, THA Foundation provides assistance “so young people would be prepared to help the youth of our country,” focusing on college scholarships to nontraditional students returning to school in pursuit of certification as elementary school teachers.
IGA President and CEO Mark Batenic celebrated Haggai in a video testimonial, sharing many of the selfless qualities that make Haggai a deserving recipient of the Hoover award. Batenic described him as humble, a strong communicator, a good listener and having integrity in business.
Batenic said, “He’ll tell you he’s not a grocery person. The reason he’s in this business is because he knows people. And he knows how to motivate people. With IGA, he truly believes he’s on a mission, and that mission is to build community centers. He firmly believes in the entrepreneurial, family-owned business spirit. Not just in this country, but all around the world.”
Smith: Driving fundamental change
The GMA award, established in 2011, recognizes an industry leader who has demonstrated excellence in fostering collaboration among consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry trading partners throughout his career.
“Steve Smith has exemplified through his extraordinary commitment the critical imperative of trading partner collaboration that extends beyond the traditional retailer-manufacturer relationship,” said Pamela Bailey, president and CEO of GMA. “Steve’s outstanding record of service to the Food Marketing Institute and the National Grocers Association has fundamentally changed the way our organizations work together.”
Smith has held numerous volunteer leadership positions with FMI, including chair of the board of directors, chair of the FMI Foundation Board of Trustees and chair of its Public Affairs Committee. He also helped revitalize the FMI Board Planning Committee, on which he still serves. He is the only industry executive to serve as chair of both FMI and the National Grocers Association. As FMI Board chair, Smith helped lay the groundwork for the Trading Partner Alliance, the industry’s preeminent forum for retailer-manufacturer collaboration. He was a champion of food safety reform and oversaw the establishment of an innovative recall management system to facilitate more effective communication between retailers and manufacturers during these critical events.
Smith joined Food City more than 35 years ago, serving in multiple leadership positions before becoming president and CEO. Founded by Smith’s father in 1955, K-VA-T (Food City’s parent company) today operates 93 Food City supermarkets (including 78 pharmacies and 84 fuel/convenience stores), 10 Super Dollar Discount Foods and a wine and spirits store throughout Southeast Kentucky, Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee.
“Steve believes in the power of FMI, GMA and other allied trade organizations to affect positive change within the industry that will ultimately benefit the consumer,” Bailey said. “He represents the best of the grocery retail community from the way he manages his business to the way he works with suppliers and industry stakeholders.”
Watch for video interviews with Dave Dillon and Tom Haggai at Progressivegrocer.com.
Follow events at FMI Midwinter on Twitter @pgrocer, @jimdudlicek and @JoanPGrocer