PLMA makes board appointments, honors Brian Sharoff

Clay Dockery, vice president of corporate brands, Massimo Zanetti Beverage, will serve a second term as the board chairman of the Private Label Manufacturers Association.

Dockery was re-elected during the PLMA Leadership Conference and Annual Meeting on March 18. The conference also presented educational sessions featuring store brand leaders from CVS, Albertsons, Cadent Consulting and more.

The end of the day included a warm tribute to former PLMA president Brian Sharoff, who was the only inductee into the 2021 Private Label Hall of Fame. Store Brands spoke with friends and colleagues about his legacy in its March issue. Sharoff’s family and longtime friends in the industry shared memories of their time during the virtual hall of fame tribute.

Peggy Davies, who succeeded Sharoff as president, said: “Over the course of an extraordinary 40 years, Brian Sharoff took PLMA from a relatively inconsequential group of fewer than 100 U.S. store brand manufacturers and suppliers to a thriving international trade organization with over 4,000 members on six continents, as well as organizer of two of the largest annual trade events in the world… [Sharoff] became the face of private label worldwide, driving a transformation of retailers’ store brands into a multi-billion-dollar global industry that altered the course of commercial history.”

Joining Dockery in key positions for the association are Doug Bausch, vice president of sales and marketing, LNK International, was named first vice chairman, and Kelly McGolrick, vice president of private label sales development, Lassonde Pappas, was elected to serve as second vice chair. Serving three-year terms on the board of directors are Ron Hodges, McCain Foods; Troy Pelak, Perrigo; Alex Chimens, Jel-Sert; Josh Sowell, SunTree Snack Foods; and Mark Cheney, Upstate Niagara Cooperative. Elected to fill a vacancy on the board extending until 2023 was Todd Graven of Huhtamaki.