Rising Stars 2023: Finger, King, and McCarthy
For the fourth consecutive year, Store Brands is celebrating those under the age of 40 who are rising through the ranks in the world of private label.
The past year has once again offered a host of challenges that required leadership along with new ways of thinking. From inflation to labor shortages and the need for additional manufacturing capacity, product suppliers and retailers alike are adapting to the new, ever-changing landscape. This year’s Rising Stars list offers insight into how a new crop of young talent in private label are pushing forward and continuing to innovate.
Today’s profiles include Cara Finger of Associated Wholesale Grocers, Amanda King of Lowe’s Foods, and Erin McCarthy of Thrive Market.
Cara Finger
Associated Wholesale Grocers
Marketing Manager, AWG Brands
Cara Finger has established herself as a key driver of private brands within Associated Wholesale Grocers. She plays a critical role in working with category management, field sales, sourcing and supplier partners to help streamline communication and provide marketing support of private brands among more than 3,400 independent grocers.
Finger leads a team dedicated to creating retailer-facing communications to ensure that members know what is happening in AWG Brand new item launches, marketing programs and deals. She also leads the team dedicated to creating consumer-facing content (i.e. brand websites) as well as marketing campaigns that independent grocers can use within their channels.
Finger played a critical role in leading the team through an innovative frozen foods campaign for AWG Brands, tying in the consumer marketing campaigns around March Madness. This program also enabled independent grocers to take advantage of key consumer-relevant content around the college basketball craze. The marketing campaign won a Golden Penguin award from the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association.
Finger also contributes to AWG’s employee-driven AWG Cares program and has brought forward AWG Grant Requests for organizations dedicated to community service.
Amanda King
Lowes Foods
Manager, Private Brands
While large, national chains typically dominate the conversation when it comes to private label, small, regional grocers are still providing shoppers with high-quality store brand options. At North Carolina-based Lowes Foods, Amanda King is leading the private label charge and has impressed colleagues and customers alike by raising the bar on all things private label.
Focusing on Lowes’ Brown Bag and Premium Brown Bag clean label lines, King has worked across the organization to provide strategic insight from shelf placement to marketing channel execution in order to drive sales and increase awareness. She also leads the retailer’s Strategic Initiative planning - working cross functionally to develop stories that will inspire guests through its marketing channels.
King is responsible for spreading the word about Lowes’ private brands in more ways than one. When the grocer opens a store in a new market, it gives its new neighbors Lowes & Behold Boxes filled with private brand products to introduce them to Lowes Foods. King is tasked with sourcing the boxes and having them printed, working with the distribution company to procure the products based on cost and availability, working with the design team for the print contents of the box, coordinating building the boxes and getting everything to the grassroots delivery team on time.
King’s coworkers at Lowes Foods describe her as curious, determined, caring and partnership-oriented for the work she has put in at the retailer so far.
Erin McCarthy
Thrive Market
Senior Product Innovator, Home Cleaning & Supplies
A member of the Thrive Market team for two-and-a-half years, Erin McCarthy has worked to overhaul the company’s Home catalog, developing sustainable, effective, and affordable solutions all while managing the transition under the Rosey-owned brand.
She led the paper program re-bid, developing a first-of-its-kind, industry-leading paper program (paper towels, bath tissue, facial tissue, napkins) that end-to-end elevated the product’s sustainability and performance. Through McCarthy’s leadership, the paper program is exclusively manufactured in the United States, has 100% plastic-free packaging, is made from 100% recycled content paper and is free from chlorine bleaching.
McCarthy’s leadership extends beyond paper as she developed a concentrates program under the Thrive Market Brand umbrella. The successful concentrated cleaning and reusable bottle program significantly reduced plastic waste with reusable glass bottles and efficacious, concentrated household cleaners (all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner and tub and tile cleaner).
Her path to product innovation took an unusual path. Starting in the banking industry, she transitioned to product development and over a period of five years worked her way up the ladder to senior product innovator in the Home, Health, and Beauty catalog. She manages all of the HHB categories, including home, bath & body, beauty, babies & kids and vitamin & supplements.