An Overachieving Bunch

Store Brands and Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence (WISE) are pleased to present the honorees in our third annual Top Women in Store Brands (TWISB) recognition program. We created the program to celebrate successful working women who bring a passion for store brands to their day-today activities. This year’s categories of recognition include five functional expertise areas (sales, supply chain/procurement, marketing and merchandising, R&D/QA and operations), as well as two achievement areas not linked to a specific area of expertise (the Innovation Award and the Sparkplug Award). The honors are based on the women’s accomplishments between May 2014 and April 2015.

We also selected one outstanding woman to receive the program’s highest honor — the Lifetime Achievement Award. This award is reserved for a woman who not only has spent the majority of her career working in the store brand arena, but also has “made her mark” on the industry in terms of professional and personal accomplishments.

WISE and Store Brands will recognize the TWISB honorees during the annual WISE meeting and luncheon on Sunday, Nov. 15 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare hotel in Rosemont, Ill.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Elaine Howard recently retired from her national account manager position with Green Bay, Wis.-based Schreiber Foods Inc. But during her many years with the company, she definitely made her mark.

Trevor Farrell, director of retail sales for Schreiber Foods and the person who nominated Howard for the highest TWISB honor, notes that she has long been recognized within the store brand industry for her leadership and sales efforts. In fact, Howard served as a member of the Private Label Manufacturers Association’s board of directors for many years.

And she made sure she left the company on high note — with her sales volume reflecting a significant increase from the prior year and on track for a record year.

Howard pushed for innovation, too, while at Schreiber Foods, Farrell adds.

“She has helped to grow our private label yogurt at [a major national retailer] from nothing to 40 million-plus pounds annually over the past five years,” he says. “An intense focus on new flavors, packaging and supply chain solutions has helped drive this growth.”

An advocate for partnerships, Howard pushed folks at Schreiber Foods to make joint decisions that reflected the best interests of the company’s customers, Farrell says.

“Elaine has led our relationships at many key customers over the years, including ALDI, Publix, Kroger and Supervalu,” he adds. “Her customers see her as an extension of themselves.”

For her achievements, Schreiber Foods honored Howard with several of its President’s Awards over the years, Farrell notes. “Elaine has been an important mentor to so many at Schreiber Foods,” he says. “She will be missed greatly.”

Marketing/Merchandising Award

As assistant vice president, own brands for BJ’s Wholesale Club, Kristine Modugno is responsible for the brand strategy, positioning, design and marketing of BJ’s own-brands. And when her job recently became more complicated, she proved to be up to the challenge.

As nominator Melissa Mips, assistant vice president of digital and creative services for the Westborough, Mass.-based retailer, explains, Modugno developed, managed and motivated a cross-functional team to ensure the best outcome when BJ’s made the decision to whittle its 10-brand private brand program down to just two brands — Wellsley Farms and Berkley Jensen — both which have the strongest brand equity and loyalty among BJ’s Members.

“She gained alignment with BJ’s merchandising, marketing, operations and procurement so all key partners could drive towards newly defined own brands goals and objectives that would create greater clarity, awareness and focus,” Mips says. “Kristine was a driving force behind the consolidation and managed the rebrand from start to finish, vetting best-in-class partners, building collaborative relationships between internal and external stakeholders and engaging multiple resources to ensure the best outcome and cost.”

Modugno put together a prioritized rollout calendar and managed to get more than 800 products meeting the new brand standards into BJ’s locations in under a year, she adds. She also updated BJ’s own asset management system to streamline the artwork approval process. BJ’s marketing department adopted the solution, too, “further streamlining the cost and process for routing marketing materials.” Throughout the entire consolidation process, Modugno built strong partnerships with suppliers and internal BJ’s teams supporting the initiative.

Operations Award

Alyssa Berinhout is senior director of operations for Oakbrook, Ill.-based Treehouse Foods Inc., where she is responsible for the operation of four private label salad dressing production facilities that employ more than 650 people in total. As Jim Kershner, vice president of manufacturing for Treehouse Foods and Berinhout’s manager and nominator, explains, she is accountable for all aspects of the plant’s performance, including safety, food safety, quality, service and more. And under her leadership, the processing facilities have realized a number of positives.

“The injury rate has fallen by 50 percent, quality is at an all-time high, and plant reliability and service have improved,” Kershner says. “She has been a leader in our Lean Continuous Improvement initiative and is playing a lead role on a multimillion-dollar capital project.”

One of the drivers behind Berinhout’s accomplishments was her ability to put together a solid leadership team, he says. And she coaches that team effectively to ensure continued success.

“She has developed skills in both her direct reports and her peers in the areas of problem-solving and people development,” Kershner adds. “She has brought project management skills and disciplines to the organization.”

Sales Award

Kim Melsheimer is vice president, Western Region sales for Orangeburg, N.Y.-based Nice-Pak Products Inc. In this role, she handles the store brand-related accounts of several strategic retail customers and oversees a team of five, explains Theresa Leiter, business support manager for Nice-Pak and the person who nominated Melsheimer for recognition.

When she first joined Nice-Pak in 2000, the wet wipes supplier had just launched its first Kirkland Signature baby product for Costco. Since that time, Leiter says, Melsheimer has managed to expand that business into numerous other categories — and to a number of other retailers.

“Kim is successful in working directly with our retail partners to determine best products and attributes to design their programs for maximum consumer impact in the store brand arena,” Leiter says. “In 2014–2015, Kim managed multiple product restages: Costco household, baby and moist flushable wipes and Safeway baby, toddler and facial [products] at the same time as the Safeway-Albertson’s merger.”

Under Melsheimer’s leadership, her sales team also managed to capture incremental business with Supervalu and Amazon during the same timeframe, Leiter adds. Kim partnered with Nice-Pak’s innovation team to develop and implement Amazon-required packaging-related technology, too.

“Nice-Pak Products Inc. has built their business in store brands, and during Kim’s 15 years with the organization, she has led the way in growing and expanding that business,” she says. “She provides strong leadership with a compassionate tone to the organization and her team, in particular. … She is a determined woman who gets the job done with grace and good nature.”

Supply Chain/ Procurement Award

As senior director, global sourcing and product development for Daymon Worldwide Inc., Asmita Pahwa spearheads the expansion of the company’s sourcing geographies, building on existing sourcing relationships and developing new ones. She is also responsible for trend forecasting and product development efforts related to Daymon’s seasonal general merchandise assortment, notes Carolyn Knott, Pahwa’s nominator and director of public relations for the Stamford, Conn.-based company.

To enhance sourcing efforts, Pahwa built a hub-and spoke sourcing infrastructure across Daymon offices across the globe. The infrastructure helps the company manage complexity, increase buying power and cut costs, Knott explains.

“Understanding economic conditions, as well as currency and trade risk, has been a big part of how Asmita finalizes our entry into new regional markets for sourcing,” she says. “Asmita led the creation of a virtual showroom, allowing us to showcase our seasonal catalogs and assortment of products, thereby addressing the need for differentiation and speed to market.”

In addition, Pahwa launched a project-tracking system that gives Daymon personnel “visibility into the project pipeline,” Knott says. And recently, she has expanded into the organic food supplier base by working with cooperatives, farmers and ingredient manufacturers, and also has helped existing suppliers diversify their product portfolios.

“Asmita drives only one message across her team,” Knott says. “That has helped her along the way in her career, and it is to always challenge the status quo and ask yourself, ‘Why not?’”

R&D/QA Award

As senior director of product development, innovation and integrity for Ahold USA, headquartered in Quincy, Mass., and Carlisle, Pa., Jacqueline (Jac) Ross not only leads store brand product development efforts, but also develops and operates the quality assurance department, where she sets guidelines and Code of Best Practice standards for Ahold’s own brands program. She hasn’t been with the company for very long — coming to the states from London-based Sainsbury’s in the beginning of 2015 — but has made a big impact during that timeframe, says nominator Juan De Paoli, senior vice president, own brands and brand management for Ahold USA.

For example, Ross led the reformulation of several private brand products in highly consumed categories such as pizza and yogurt to reduce sugar and sodium without adversely impacting taste, he says.

“She has, in just a few months, strengthened Ahold USA’s product development innovation culture,” De Paoli adds. “Her leadership driving responsible retailing efforts in partnership with Ahold Europe is also evident.”

And prior to coming to Ahold, Ross was the innovation and quality force behind quite a few of the honors that Sainbury’s (as well as UK retailer Marks and Spencer) took home in recent years for its private brand products. Those awards include Best Overall Product in the Quality “Q” Awards program for Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Lasagne Al Forno with Slow Cooked Beef, recognition in The Grocer Own Label Food and Drink Awards for Sainsbury’s Chocolate Coated Honeycomb and many, many more, De Paoli notes.

Innovation Award

Christine Heffernan is senior director, business unit lead for Topco Associates LLC, Elk Grove Village, Ill. As such, she leads a group of more than 25 category experts in center store for Topco’s member-owners, says Leigh Foulk, associate sourcing analyst for Topco and the person who nominated Heffernan for TWISB honors.

Heffernan not only inspired the team that developed Topco’s new @Ease frozen food program — which encompasses easy-to-prepare skillet dinners, meal starters, breakfast sandwiches, side dishes and more — but also proved to be a critical asset when Topco decided to put into place a new business model and operating system. She assisted with selection and development of the new operating system, Foulk notes, and served as a leader in efforts to better prepare Topco’s business units for that new operating system and business model.

“Through her leadership, Christine and her team have launched several innovative programs, including Over the Top edible cake decorating [products] in 2013 and the @Ease frozen meals program in 2015,” she adds. “She has led the charge to push through barriers to launch over 50 new items in the product line through the selection of suppliers, creative packaging design and marketing launch to our members.”

Sparkplug Award

As a category manager for Tyler, Texas-based Brookshire Grocery Co. (BGC), Michelle Elliott oversees the baking goods, spices and seasonings, and coffee categories — handling everything from product selection and planogram shelf placement to retail price points and promotional activity. The combined categories encompass more than 5,000 SKUs and represent an annual sales volume of $100 million, according to nominator Linda Lee, who is manager, private label sales for BGC supplier C.H. Guenther & Son Inc., San Antonio.

In addition, Elliott is charged with increasing awareness on the part of supplier-partners and customers of BGC’s mission statement: “to provide a great food and shopping experience,” Lee notes. She also is responsible for developing standard practices to help the retailer realize growth in the store brand arena.

“Since Michelle took over the desk, our business has seen double-digit growth due to her attention and perseverance to grow our business,” Lee says.

Although Elliott started with BGC 25 years ago as an in-store bagger, she’s been in her current role for only a few years. But she’s managed to pack many accomplishments into that short timeframe.

In 2015, the Griffin Report named Elliott a Women of Influence in the Food Industry, Lee says, and BGC selected her to lead its Store Brands Strategic Initiative Team. Despite all of the demands on her time, Elliott even managed to earn her MBA this past spring.

“Her advice is to learn all you can about the industry and volunteer to take on extra job duties, where applicable, to expand your knowledge,” Lee adds.