NCA Announces Confectionery Leadership Awards

The National Confectioners Association has announced the recipients of its 2013 Confectionery Leadership Awards, which celebrate contributions to the category through effective business collaboration, category management best practices and innovations in merchandising confectionery products in-store.

The following individuals were nominated by NCA members for their creativity and innovative thinking:

- Julia Bischoff, senior category manager at Smart & Final

- Kimberley Felice-Dooley, senior category manager at CVS Caremark Corp.

- A.J. Jesswani, category merchant for candy and commercial bakery at Meijer Inc.

“This award program was designed to acknowledge those trade customers who serve as role models for other retailers and wholesalers,” said NCA President Larry Graham. “It recognizes individuals who use their experience to encourage visionary thinking and to drive the entire confectionery category forward.”

NCA created the awards program in 2011 to recognize and honor the confectionery industry’s best and most innovative category champions and leaders.

Bischoff, Felice-Dooley and Jesswani will be presented with their awards in Miami at NCA’s annual State of the Industry Conference on Feb. 25.

Serving as the voice of the industry, the National Confectioners Association advocates for the needs of the industry before government bodies, helps the industry understand and implement food safety and other regulations, provides information to help members strengthen business in today’s competitive environment and creates relationships between all sectors of the industry including manufacturers, brokers, trade customers, suppliers to the industry and consumers.