Top Women In Store Brands 2023: Kim Ward
For more than a decade, Store Brands and Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence (WISE) have teamed to honor women across the private label industry who have had and continue to have a major impact in the store brand segment.
From supply chain, to sales, marketing, finance and more, members of the Class of 2023 each play a vital role in moving store brands forward amid new and on-going challenges that include rising prices, capacity issues with manufacturers, and evolving demand from consumers.
The following is the profile of Kim Ward of Topco Associates, the 2023 Emerging Leader honoree.
A Problem Solver
Kim Ward is an emerging leader in the field of demand planning. At Topco, she has played a key role in developing and implementing a new demand planning system that manages 30,000 items across 290 suppliers along with more than 40 Topco members.
Her expertise and strong leadership were invaluable in guiding the project from start to finish. Ward organized and executed voice of the customer sessions to get stakeholder feedback, developed the day-to-day processes, and helped train more than 300 system users in a 10-month period. Her project management skills kept the project roll out on schedule, and the new process and software are now fully operational.
“It has been a challenging project and it feels great to look back and see what we accomplished so far,” she said.
With Topco’s demand planning system in place, Ward has shifted her focus to enhancing subsequent phases of the effort. She is working with her team to drive better forecast accuracy through demand consensus meetings and root cause analysis. Her continuous improvement mindset and commitment to excellence have resulted in improved forecast accuracy across Center Store.
Ward is seen by colleagues as a dedicated leader who is always striving to improve forecasts and turn forecast accuracy data into meaningful information. She is an emerging leader within the grocery industry, and her commitment to improving the process of demand planning is evident in her work.
“I think what has made me most successful over my career is my problem solving skills and drive for continuous improvement,” Ward said. “I am always looking for the most efficient way to accomplish the end goal.”
In recognition of her outstanding achievements, Ward was recently selected to participate in Topco’s year-long leadership development program. This program is designed to cultivate emerging leaders within the company and prepare them for future success.
