Topco President/CEO Retires

Topco Associates LLC revealed that Steven K. Lauer has retired from the position of president and CEO of the Skokie, Ill.-based cooperative. Lauer joined Topco in 1993 as CFO, becoming president and CEO in 1999.

Under Lauer’s guidance, Topco’s membership has grown to 51 retail, wholesale and foodservice member owners collectively representing more than $125 billion in sales. In the most recently completed year, Topco’s member owners purchased more than $11.3 billion in goods and services through the company’s 10 programs.

“Topco has grown significantly and developed into a leader in the private label industry because of Steve’s leadership,” noted Steve Smith, Topco’s chairman and president and CEO of Abingdon, Va.-baed K-VA-T Food Stores Inc.

Stepping into the role of interim president and CEO is Randall J. “Randy” Skoda, who has been with Topco for more than 10 years in a number of management roles with increasing responsibility. Since 2007, Skoda has been EVP, in which capacity he has overseen the company’s program management, product and brand development, innovation and not-for-resale groups. Additionally, Skoda has been director on the NuVal LLC board of directors since the company's inception in 2008.

Topco provides aggregation, innovation and knowledge management solutions for food industry member-owners and customers. NuVal LLC is a joint venture formed in 2008 by Topco and Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn. NuVal licenses its proprietary food-scoring system, which is based on ONQI (Overall Nutrition Quality Index) science, to food retailers across the United States.