AWG Elects Rouses Markets’ Donny Rouse to Board of Directors
Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) has elected Donald “Donny” Rouse Jr., CEO of Thibodaux, La.-based Rouses Markets, to serve on its board of directors. Rouse succeeds Chuck Murfin, who resigned from the board in December following his retirement from the supermarket industry after 40 years in business. The election took place during a board meeting last month.
Rouse will serve the remainder of Murfin’s term, which will expire at the company’s 2022 annual meeting of stockholders.
Murfin, who joined the board in 1990 and served as a member of the finance committee, recently sold his four supermarkets in the Springfield, Mo., area to another AWG member.
“On behalf of the board I would like to thank Chuck for his dedication to AWG and our members for the last 30 years,” said Barry Queen, chairman of the board for AWG. “Chuck has played an instrumental role on our board over the last three decades and helped guide us as we grew from two divisions with $2 billion in annual sales to eight divisions today with over $9.7 billion in sales.”
Rouse started his career in the supermarket industry as a teenager working in his family’s grocery store, helping to build the business into a regional powerhouse with 63 locations along the Gulf Coast.
Regarding Rouse’s appointment to the board, Queen said: “Donny Rouse leads one of the best regional independent chains in the country. They are very progressive in their store designs, operations, offerings, and marketing. They are a great example of an independent grocer that continues to raise their game so they remain relevant leaders in the markets they serve. I know that he will be a great contributor to our board and the future success of AWG and the members we serve.”
Thibodaux, La.-based independent grocer Rouses Market made its debut this year at No. 47 on Progressive Grocer's 2019 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States.
Kansas City, Kan.-based AWG is the nation’s largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets, serving more than 1,000 member companies and 3,000-plus locations across 28 states from eight full-line wholesale divisions. In addition to its cooperative wholesale operations, the company operates subsidiary companies that provide certain real estate and supermarket development services, print and digital marketing services, and health and beauty care, general merchandise, specialty/international foods and pharmaceutical products.
