Rising Stars 2023: Tasch, Traynor, and Ward
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 Tori Tasch of Kroger, Jordan Traynor of Thrive Market, and Kimberly Ward of Topco Associates.
Tori Tasch
The Kroger Co.
Category Strategy Manager
Leading private label brand strategy, marketing communication and new item development at one of the country’s largest grocers is no easy task, but at Kroger, Tori Tasch has gone above and beyond to ensure that the retailer’s goals are met. In her role she tracks trends across the industry, applying knowledge of culinary, competitive and consumer trends to grow Kroger’s private label business.
As an example of her private brand expertise, Tasch executed an accelerated project on Seafood for Our Brands, performing a deep-dive investigation of the category, including customer needs and behavior, industry trends, sourcing opportunities and assortment needs. As a result, she led a cross-functional team to develop new Our Brand items, redesign packaging, restructure customer communication and quickly execute a launch plan with impressive speed to market.
As an ambassador for Kroger’s Our Brands vision and goals, Tasch is passionate about customers’ needs, providing high quality products, and the best price possible. Looking ahead to next year, she said the Seafood category will continue to grow at Kroger, fueled by the “culture” and expertise of her and of the private label team.
Jordan Traynor
Thrive Market
Senior Food Product Innovator
Along with other members of the Thrive team, Jordan Traynor has helped spearhead the rise to regenerative and organic products at Thrive. For the retailer’s chocolate category, she helped source directly from Colombian farmers for chocolate bars, chips, and chocolate-covered nuts. These steps in taking sustainability to the next level are a major part in her work.
One of the most popular picks by Thrive Market’s members is its Regular Coconut Milk, accounting for one of the highest-selling SKUs by unit volume. Traynor doubled-down on building long-term value for Thrive Market and its members by upleveling the coconut milks and creams. Recently, she led the transition to Thrive’s canned coconut milks and creams to be newly-sourced as Generative Organic products, derived directly from Sri Lanka, making them one of the first-ever Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC) producers of coconut products.
Traynor is credited with having a deep knowledge of Thrive’s 1.2 million members, constantly looking for new ways to better cater to their needs while considering all stakeholders. She said that so far, the highlight of her career has been working with chocolatier Oded Brenner on creating co-branded upcycled cacao products, bringing sustainably sourced products into the world of e-commerce grocery.
Kimberly Ward
Topco Associates, LLC
Senior Manager, Demand Planning and Replenishment
In her current position at Topco, Kimberly Ward works to drive better forecast accuracy through demand consensus meetings and root cause analysis. She possesses a continuous improvement mindset and a commitment to excellence that have resulted in three straight months of improved forecast accuracy across Topco’s Center Store.
Dedicated to Topco members and the customers they serve, Ward strives to improve forecasts, turning forecast accuracy data into meaningful information. A Rising Star within Topco, she possesses both subject matter expertise and an unbridled enthusiasm for demand planning. She has also given Topco members and suppliers a superior forecast to plan from.
Ward built out a new demand planning process over 16 months, leading her team in managing 30,000 items across 290 suppliers and 42 Topco members. The new process provides a monthly statistical forecast, augmented by member insights and industry trends.
Among the major initiatives instituted by Ward was updating Topco’s historical planning process that used spreadsheets that were sent to suppliers once a year. She created the strategic framework for a demand planning system at Topco. Her subject matter expertise and strong leadership were invaluable, guiding the project from start to finish. She was instrumental in developing the day-to-day processes and helped train more than 300 system users in just 10 months.