Jan 25, 2011
PHOENIX, AZ – January 25, 2011 – Arthur B. Drogue, retired senior vice president of customer development for the America’s at Unilever, received the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) William H. Albers Industry Relations Award today, along with Richard G. Wolford, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Del Monte Foods. Both men were recognized for their excellence in trading partner relations and consumer and community service. The awards were presented at FMI’s Midwinter Executive Conference in Phoenix, AZ.

     Drogue retired from Unilever last year after more than 11 years of service. He led Unilever’s U.S. customer development organization during eight years of outstanding growth and earnings success while merging five separate companies into one of the world’s preeminent consumer packaged goods companies.

     Before joining Unilever, Drogue’s held various sales leadership positions with Best Foods and Nabisco. He was also a group vice president for the consulting firm Northeastern Organization Inc. Prior to working as a consultant, he worked for more than 20 years at General Mills in their sales and marketing organizations. He now has his own consulting firm, Drogue & Company.

Drogue has been credited as the brain child behind Unilever’s community improvement policy. He managed to convince associates traveling to the annual sales meeting in Las Vegas to forgo golf and gambling, and instead spend their free time refurbishing a local playground, helping to build a Habitat for Humanity home and cleaning up the shoreline and restoring walking paths at nearby Lake Mead.
Drogue has been active in industry associations including serving as the chairman of the Global Marketing Committee of the Consumer Goods Forum, the GS1 US Board of Governors and the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

          The William H. Albers Award was introduced in 1955 in honor of the first chairman of the Super Market Institute, one of FMI’s predecessor organizations.
The FMI Midwinter Executive Conference is the industry’s education and networking event for top executives of retail, wholesale and supplier companies representing the entire scope of the food and grocery products industry. The conference focuses on the major challenges and opportunities for the food industry.

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Food Marketing Institute (FMI) conducts programs in public affairs, food safety, research, education and industry relations on behalf of its 1,500 member companies — food retailers and wholesalers — in the United States and around the world. FMI’s U.S. members operate approximately 26,000 retail food stores and 14,000 pharmacies. Their combined annual sales volume of $680 billion represents three-quarters of all retail food store sales in the United States. FMI’s retail membership is composed of large multi-store chains, regional firms and independent supermarkets. Its international membership includes 200 companies from more than 50 countries. FMI’s associate members include the supplier partners of its retail and wholesale members.