Top Women In Store Brands 2024: Jessica Gaudette, Daymon
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 2024 each play a vital role in moving store brands forward amid new and ongoing challenges that include rising prices, capacity issues with manufacturers, and evolving demand from consumers.
Meet this year's Top Women In Store Brands honorees.
Jessica Gaudette
Daymon
Corporate Services Award
At the start of 2024, Jessica Gaudette’s career at Daymon took another step forward as she was named director of Process & Technology. That title fits the work Gaudette has done for the company in recent years as she spearheaded using technology to streamline processes, thereby revolutionizing how retailers approach private label products.
That work was also a key factor in Gaudette being named a 2024 Top Women In Store Brands honoree in the Corporate Services category.
“Receiving the Top Women in Store Brands Award has given me the opportunity to pause and reflect on all that has been accomplished over the past few years,” she said. “I’m incredibly grateful for the amazing teams I work with and for the supportive leadership in our company. Being nominated is truly an honor.”
Her colleagues were effusive in their praise for Gaudette and the work she has done in recent years. During a 12-month period ending in July 2024, Gaudette successfully relaunched PLM Connect, a private-label management tool that has streamlined project workflows for three major retail clients and Daymon’s internal teams. With this tool in place, Daymon’s customers have reported a 30-40% reduction in project hours and an eye-catching 91% on-time project launch rate. Her ability to enhance efficiency and reduce time-to-market has made a significant impact on Daymon’s clients and the broader industry.
Additionally, Gaudette introduced Transformative Process Solutions, a service designed to streamline and optimize processes within private brands. This service, developed from the ground up, gained international adoption within six months, highlighting Gaudette’s keen understanding of industry needs and her ability to lead successful service launches.
Her colleagues also said Gaudette’s success shows that private brands are more than followers of national brands. With her leadership, Gaudette is demonstrating that one can have a successful career within the private label industry beyond sales, marketing, product development, and supply chain.
As for the success she has achieved, Gaudette said, “I’ve been fortunate to stay true to my passions: project management and process improvement, and these motivate me to continuously look for better ways of working. Collaborating with our cross-functional teams has also been essential as we collect business requirements, bring forward different perspectives, and translate those into technology solutions to drive more efficiencies into our daily work.”