Here's to our top women!

Private Label => Store Brands and Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence (WISE) are proud to announce our first annual Top Women in Store Brand (TWISB) Awards. We created the TWISB program to provide well-deserved recognition for women executives who bring a passion for store brands to their day-to-day activities.

To select this years TWISB award recipients, we solicited in-depth nominations across the store brand industry. A committee consisting of representatives from both Private Label => Store Brands and WISE then carefully evaluated the nominations, reviewing each nominees accomplishments to determine this years award recipients in five categories related to job function and two categories not specific to job function.

We also selected one deserving woman to receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. With the exception of that honor, the awards are based on accomplishments between January 2012 and April 2013.

The TWISB Awards will be presented during the annual WISE meeting and luncheon on Sunday, Nov. 17, at the Hyatt Regency OHare in Rosemont, Ill.

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Lifetime Achievement Award
Mayro Kanning
Kroger Co.
Mayro Kanning joined Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. in 1974 as a food technologist in Krogers corporate Quality Assurance department. Since then, she has taken on roles ranging from QA manager at Kroger's Memphis bakery to trainer for food safety and lab practices at two new Kroger-run processing plants. She also has worked with numerous outside product suppliers on new corporate brand product approvals, quality maintenance and facility approvals, according to Nick Hahn, Krogers retired director of corporate brands, who nominated Kanning for the prestigious award.

"Mayros determination and persistence on quality resulted in improvements at many facilities and their ultimate approval as Kroger suppliers," Hahn notes.

He adds that in the early 1990s, Kanning volunteered to coordinate the nutritional labeling data Kroger needed to comply with the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act.

"Her organizational and facilitation skills again were a great benefit in enabling Kroger to accomplish this major task on thousands of products," Hahn says.

Kanning later volunteered again — this time to coordinate the sensory panels when Kroger and Fred Meyer merged, he says.

"She worked with outside labs to partner with Kroger to conduct product evaluations and taste panels," Hahn explains. "Due to Mayros efforts, Kroger became the first grocery chain to conduct computerized taste panels."

As manager of sensory services for Kroger, Kanning currently manages the taste panels for a corporate brands program with more than 27,000 SKUs. Hahn notes that her efforts over the years have helped improve and maintain quality within Krogers store brand program.

"Her tenacious approach to quality has been an inspiration to all with whom she has worked," he stresses. "She leads in a most positive manner: by example. The Kroger program has benefitted greatly due to Mayros involvement."

But Kanning's job isn't her only passion: She is a long-time advocate for the Arthritis Foundation, too, Hahn says. She has been a member of the Arthritis Foundations Ohio River Valley board for many years and has led the "Mayros Milers" team in the foundations local Arthritis Walk annually for more than a decade — raising more than $250,000 over the years.

"In 2010, Mayro received the B.H. Kroger Community Service [Award] from Krogers general office as a result of her efforts," Hahn says. "She has been named the 2014 Arthritis Foundation national adult walk honoree. ... She has become the face of hope for those who hear the words, 'You have arthritis.'"

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Innovation Award
Audra Winn
H-E-B
Audra Winn currently serves as a business development manager on H-E-B's Grocery Team, with responsibilities for developing and executing category strategies to drive sales, profitability and consumer loyalty. But she actually had two areas of accountability during the timeframe listed for award consideration, notes Molly McAdams, Ph.D., who nominated Winn. Those two areas, H-E-B points out, include brand manager team leader for the Own Brand Team and business development manager for the pasta, pasta sauce, rice, grains and olive oil categories on the Grocery Procurement Team.

"In these roles, she led strategic own-brand development across multiple departments and brands, drove key strategies leading to strong sales and unit growth, led innovation platforms and created meaningful programs, explains McAdams, who formerly led the Own Brand Team at San Antonio-based H-E-B and now serves as president of Om3 Inc.

She says Winn brings to H-E-B a "unique combination of brand management, product development, grocery retail, and meat and seafood industry experience." Winn's scientific training helps her on the product development side, while her marketing training helps connect those products to the right consumers.

"She empathizes for customer needs, then gets into action to create exciting products they need to improve their lives," McAdams adds.

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Sparkplug Award
Susan Lambert,
Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA
Although Susan Lambert came to Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA in the spring of 2012 with a wealth of experience in consumer products, the store brand space was new territory for her. But in just a short time, she not only has come to understand the private brand business, but also has "used her knowledge to bring dynamic differences to the coffee category, including recommendations for a comprehensive coffee island," says Clay Dockery, Lambert's direct supervisor at Portsmouth, Va.-based Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA and the person who nominated her for the award. He adds that a significant national brand coffee company announced a similar shelving vision in April 2013 — well after Lambert had brainstormed the concept.

As business development manager for Massimo Zanetti, Lambert is responsible for providing overall marketing direction on all aspects of customers store brand coffees while researching potential new product or business opportunities within the store brand coffee space. She also is actively involved in the Private Label Manufacturers Association, Dockery notes.

"Susan has taken a very active role in thinking about the brand from a deeper CPG concept and has been an integral part of the team that moved a retailer into best-in-class share of market on an initial launch," he says.

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R&D/QA Award
Ann Thompson
Associated Wholesale Grocers
As QA manager for Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) brands, Ann Thompson is responsible for research and development of all AWG brand products, as well as auditing those products for quality and consistency. The auditing process includes plant audits of AWGs manufacturers, Thompson notes. In addition, her department also monitors 24 state WIC food lists to ensure AWG brands are listed as approved WIC items.

Thompson also handles all recalls for the Kansas City, Kan.-based company, and has responsibilities for customer inquiries and the company's Save-A-Label program, adds Kristal Sevcik, sales manager for Fairibault, Minn.-based Fairibault Foods, who nominated her for the award.

"Ann has worked at AWG for 23 years," she notes. "All AWG store brand items are reviewed, on average, 2.5 times a year. That means Ann and her team have looked at over 10,000 SKUs — and that doesn't include any items submitted for new item approval. Ann also personally visits 15 different supplier production facilities every year."

Sevcik says Thompson also is a very active participant in the Quality Assurance Association, which comprises wholesaler, retailer, manufacturer, testing laboratory, broker, government and other professionals. The association is dedicated to providing information and training related to the quality of private brand products.

"Ann has been instrumental in building AWG's robust QA program, and sales have undoubtedly benefitted as a result," she says. "When asked about Ann, Scott Richey, the director of store brands at AWG, says that Ann is passionate to deliver a great product to her retailers. We can always sell something once, but it takes good quality to keep on selling product."

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Marketing and Merchandising Award
Michelle Ruocco
Michaels Stores
As vice president, business unit general merchandise manager, Seasonal & Home Décor for Irving, Texas-based Michaels Stores, Michelle Ruocco focuses on the development of merchandising strategies and products. Her team aims to drive sales "through great-quality, new trend-right products," Ruocco explains, adding that her business unit is greatly dominated by Michaels' private brand items.

Drawing from roughly two decades of store brand-related experience, Ruocco has managed to build the Michaels private brand strategy and portfolio to 11 lifestyle-specific brands, explains Wilson Zhu, executive vice president, private brand and global for Michaels and one of the people who nominated Ruocco for an award. She also has led product development and design efforts to support brand-building efforts, he notes.

Ruocco's accomplishments during her tenure at Michaels include helping to set the Seasonal and Home Décor business on a growth curve, developing a strategy and plan for that business and leading product selection and cost negotiations for all seasonal buys. Plus, she "reinvented key businesses and introduced new businesses and merchandising strategies," Zhu says.

Prior to joining Michaels in 2008, Ruocco held private brand-related positions with Daymon Worldwide, Stamford, Conn. While at Daymon, she was recognized for her leadership with the prestigious Peter Daymon Schwartz Award, notes Brent Tininenko, senior director, purchase leverage for Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart, who also nominated Ruocco. He adds that she is a member of the Network of Executive Women.

"Michelle has seen a very fast and progressive growth through her career, illustrating her ability to not only understand private brand, but to implement it," Zhu states.

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Operations Award
Susan Bosch
Bay Valley Foods
Susan Bosch is director, operations finance for Bay Valley Foods, owned by Oak Brook, Ill.-based TreeHouse Foods. She directs the cost leadership activities for 21 plant locations within the TreeHouse operating network. Her duties, Bosch says, include setting the annual operating budgets, managing capital investment and driving benchmarking efforts to guide both short-term and long-term strategy.

Bosch began her career with Bay Valley Foods in plant operations, notes nominator Judy Clark, senior vice president, logistics and customer solutions for Bay Valley Foods. Since then, she held several different positions before taking on her current corporate-level role.

"Over the past year, she has been instrumental in developing our plant operations reviews, as well as defining our key performance indicators for the operations team," she notes. "She has enabled the operations team to better manage their individual plants and drive efficiency throughout our manufacturing platform."

Bosch's attention to detail, solid grasp of accounting and operations, and ability to drive out costs allow her to "be extremely effective in a private label world," Clark adds. Bosch has been part of several Bay Valley Foods teams that have been recognized for their achievements.

"Susan's friendly disposition and willingness to roll her sleeves up and work side by side with any part of our team is a key to her success," she says. "She works collaboratively across the plants and corporate functions. Susan also has solid project management skills that are critical to ensure follow-up and detailed execution within complex private label operations."

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Sales Award
Amber Finucan
Schreiber Foods
As a customer account specialist for Schreiber Foods, headquartered in Green Bay, Wis., Amber Finucan enters and communicates pricing information, analyzes and resolves customer disputes on expected services, manages customer promotional programs, and provides business support to the sales team. Finucan notes that she also collaborates cross-functionally within her organization and uses process improvement tools that help eliminate waste and create efficiencies.

According to nominator James Kelley, customer service team leader for Schreiber Foods and Finucan's leader, she is adept at all of these tasks — and more.

"Amber is fabulous at her job," he says. "She goes the extra mile to help me do my job. ... Amber does whats best for the total business.

"Amber is one of three pricing specialists on the Pricing Optimization Team," he adds. "This team streamlined the execution of the pricing process to free up time to enhance services to customers. Significant time savings have occurred for both sales and customer service departments."

As a member of the Customer Service Dashboard Team, Finucan also helped design and test pricing dashboards, Kelley says. The dashboards will provide easy access to information to help the Pricing Team gain a stronger understanding of the accounts they support.

"Amber makes everyone around her better, and the sales team she supports is able to better support our accounts as a result of her ability to perform her job on a daily basis at an extremely high level," he stresses.

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Supply Chain/ Procurement Award
Kathleen Oakes
Topco Associates LLC
Kathleen Oakes is a director for Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based Topco Associates LLC, an $11.9 billion privately held company that provides aggregation, innovation and knowledge management to its 50-plus member-owners. Oakes handles overall negotiations, product selection and QA within her categories, notes nominator Linda Sanduski, Topco's manager of corporate communications.

"She is responsible for $800 million of annual dairy/bakery sales," she explains. "In addition, during the quarter-one 2012 [to] quarter-one 2013 timeframe, she increased dollar sales in her store brand categories by more than 17 percent — to approximately $200 million, with close to 15 percent in volume growth."

At the same time, Oakes also oversaw 12 egg bids that resulted in member savings of $3 million, Sanduski adds. The broad scope of industry knowledge Oakes has amassed during her 30-plus years in the industry ranges from purchasing to sourcing and from QA to consumer marketing and sales. But Oakes also puts an emphasis on adding overall value.

"She ensures that her team has its pulse on daily pricing for the many volatile dairy categories, including cheese, butter and eggs, which they monitor via daily market data and in-store price checks, Sanduski says.

One of Oakes main responsibilities is the negotiation of new dairy programs "on behalf of Topco's geographically and demographically diverse member-owners," she notes. Her vast knowledge of regional dairy needs make her an asset here.

"She has very high standards for her vendors, and the quality and consistency of product that Topco procures," Sanduski stresses. "She is a good negotiator who is fair, yet has Topco's member-retailer clients best interests at heart. Always acting as an advocate for Topco's many member-owners, she represents all participating members when she negotiates — even the smallest-volume member — and always goes to bat for them.

"Kathy is a true leader and mentor to her team," she adds. "She is constantly striving for excellence from her team, vendor contacts and member-owner counterparts."