Hitting New Heights

Now in its eighth year, Progressive Grocer’s Top Women in Grocery awards program continues to grow because there’s just so much talent in our industry, worthy of the highest levels of recognition. The achievements and experiences of our 2014 honorees speak volumes about the wealth of talent development that abounds in today’s grocery industry.

We at PG are truly humbled by the support that our awards program has garnered from all pockets of the industry, including a new level of involvement from 12 leaders who have been selected to serve on our 2014 Top Women in Grocery (TWIG) Event and Education Advisory Board:

• Michele G. Buck, President, North America, The Hershey Co.
• Jan DeLyser, VP of Marketing, California Avocado Commission
• Dawn Gilmore, Senior Manager, Talent and Performance Development, The Kroger Co.,
• Jane Hilk, EVP, Kraft Foods Group
• Lynn Marmer, Group VP of Corporate Affairs, The Kroger Co.
• Teena Massingill, Director, Corporate Public Affairs, Safeway Inc.
• Jane Novak-Cook, VP Customer Business Development, Food Channel, N.A., Procter & Gamble
• Ken Peterson, VP, Field HR and Diversity, Bi-Lo Holdings LLC
• Larree Renda, EVP, Safeway Inc.; Chairwoman, The Safeway Foundation
• Leslie G. Sarasin, President/CEO, Food Marketing Institute
• Joan Toth, President & CEO, Network of Executive Women
• Lisa Walsh, VP, PepsiCo Sales

We are thrilled to have such a high caliber of seasoned leaders serving as the first-ever members of our TWIG advisory board. Their objective and experienced insights will be invaluable in helping us further enhance the industry’s premier women’s leadership awards program’s gala event and afternoon learning and networking platform.

Because our industry possesses awesome mentoring resources to nurture its next generation of leadership, PG will again hold its series of mentoring sessions, introduced last year, in conjunction with our awards gala this fall. We expect these idea-sharing sessions to continue the momentum established a year ago and help increase the knowledge of these talented women.

Congratulations to all of our 2014 TWIG winners, and we hope to see you at our afternoon workshops and celebration dinner on Nov. 12, 2014, at the InterContinental Chicago O’Hare in Rosemont, Ill.