Doug Baker is a food retail industry relations vice president for FMI – The Food Industry Association where he facilitates professional, non-competitive collaboration among member communities across private brands, technology, and grocery resilience issue areas.
In addition to his facilitation of the private brands leadership council and their efficiency-driven initiatives to encourage brand owner innovation, Doug also oversees FMI’s CIO Council, the Industry Collaboration Council and joint industry initiative, SmartLabel . Prior to FMI, Doug began his career in the food retail industry in 1984 with Fry’s Food Stores. His 30+ years in food retail have included leadership roles at Fry’s (a division of Kroger), Kraft/Nabisco and Federated Group with focuses on retail operations, consumer packaged goods and private brand development and marketing.
Mark Baum currently serves as Senior Vice President of Industry Relations and Chief Collaboration Officer for FMI. In this role, Baum engages retailer, manufacturer, supplier, and service provider CEOs to further trading partner collaboration, leading to operational improvements and growth opportunities across all segments of the food retail supply chain. Prior to joining FMI, Baum was a Managing Partner of MARCAT Group, LLC a consulting/advisory firm specializing in business, market, channel, and customer development. Baum is known for his intricate knowledge of every aspect of the food, beverage and related businesses, and is recognized among the foremost experts in the design, management, and execution of strategy, sales, marketing, and merchandising activities throughout the industry.
Craig joined H-E-B in 2005 as Chief Strategic Officer and was an advisor to H-E-B for two years before joining the company.
Prior to H-E-B, Craig worked at the Monitor Company, a global consultancy based in Cambridge, MA. Craig founded and ran Monitor’s New York office.
Craig is a member of the Board of FMI and a member of the FMI Executive Committee. He also served as the Chairman of the 2016 FMI Midwinter Executive Conference. Craig serves as the Chairman of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation; he is also on the Board of Trustees for Texas Biomedical Research Institute; and serves on the Early Matters S.A. Steering committee, as well as the UTSA Campaign Leadership Council. Craig is also Chairman of the Board for Junior Achievement of South Texas, and a member of the Mayor’s Education and Development Workforce Leadership Team. He is a past member of the United Way Executive Committee and, served as the General Campaign Chair for the 2015 United Way Campaign.
Will Chu is the CEO & Co-founder of Vector, a contactless pickup and delivery platform, that ensures supply chain partners get the right load to the right place at the right time. Prior to Vector, Will was the VP of Engineering at Addepar, a wealth management platform, which manages more than $2 trillion in client assets. Will is a problem solver at heart who enjoys leveraging technology to tackle major industry challenges. In his free time, Will enjoys camping with his family, cold IPAs and swimming in the San Francisco Bay.
Jean-Baptiste (JB) Delabre is a highly accomplished professional with over 12 years of experience at NielsenIQ, where he has supported retailers worldwide, providing strategic solutions to tackle critical business challenges in merchandising and supply chain management. As Vice-President of NIQ's North America Retail Analytics practice, JB consults with retailers across various industries and sectors, including Grocery, Beauty & Drug, Mass merchandiser, and Convenience retailers. One of his latest notable achievements includes spearheading the successful launch of an analytics-driven supply chain solution, enabling CPG suppliers and retailers to measure and benchmark out-of-stocks effectively. With a passion for delivering impactful results, he remains committed to empowering NIQ clients with data-driven insights to optimize their operations and drive sustainable growth. JB holds a Master of Science in Marketing and Analytics from the University of Montreal.
Sandy Douglas, has served as our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our Board since August 2021. He most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of Staples, Inc. from April 2018 to June 2021, which included leading that company’s business-to-business distribution platform. Prior to Staples, Mr. Douglas served as President of Coca-Cola North America until February 2018, where he led the $10 billion revenue business, encompassing all aspects of its consumer and business-to-business operations. During Mr. Douglas’ 30-year tenure at Coca-Cola, he also served as Global Chief Customer Officer, and held a variety of positions across sales and marketing. Mr. Douglas began his career at The Procter & Gamble Company in sales and sales management positions. Since May 2020, Mr. Douglas has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Wawa Inc., a leading convenience retailer in the Eastern United States.
Angela Fernandez is the vice president of community engagement at GS1 US and is responsible for driving broader adoption of GS1 Standards to help industry achieve improved product traceability, product information transparency, supply chain efficiencies, patient safety and data quality.
Since joining GS1 US more than 20 years ago, Ms. Fernandez has worked closely with industry stakeholders including manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, foodservice operators, healthcare providers, government agencies, and solution providers to identify business process challenges and improve supply chain operations by leveraging GS1 Standards, the most widely used supply chain standards in the world.
Mrs. Fernandez earned her bachelor of science in business administration from Drexel University. She is a frequent guest speaker at industry events and conferences for numerous organizations, including the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), the National Restaurant Association and the Institute of Food Technologists. She has been a traceability and recall resource for media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, SupplyChainBrain, Food Logistics and Packaging Digest magazines.
French has more than 20 years’ experience in the Logistics and Transportation industry, spending most of that time in the Retail space. Currently, he is the Director of Domestic Inbound Logistics with Meijer, Inc, a Grand Rapids, Mich. based retailer that operates supercenters, neighborhood markets, Meijer Grocery and Express locations throughout MI, OH, IN, IL, KY and WI. Meijer is a privately-owned and family-operated company since 1934.
Kathy Fulton is Executive Director for American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). She leads the organization in facilitating donations of logistics services and equipment to enable delivery of millions of dollars of humanitarian aid. Kathy served as the organization’s director of operations until her promotion in 2014.
Ms. Fulton’s passion is the intersection of supply chain and emergency management, focusing on the critical role logistics and supply chain professionals play in disaster relief. She serves on national workgroups focused on efficient coordination of logistics activities during disasters, including those hosted by the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Research Board, and the National Emergency Management Association. Preceding her work with ALAN, Fulton was Senior Manager of Information Technology Services at Saddle Creek Logistics Services where she led IT infrastructure implementation and support, corporate systems, and business continuity planning.
Kathy holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics from Northwestern State University of Louisiana and Master’s degrees in Business Administration and Management Information Systems from the University of South Florida.
Bobby Gibbs is a Partner in the Retail & Consumer Goods practice at Oliver Wyman. During his projects, Bobby has focused on capabilities building in pricing, promotions, and discount management enabled by advanced analytics, tool development and employee engagement. Bobby is a contributing author to Retail Revolution, Oliver Wyman’s study on major trends in the industry and co-authored numerous articles on industry trends including for the Harvard Business Review. Bobby is on the leadership for Next Best Basket™, Oliver Wyman’s capability for retail personalization.
Bobby has presented on industry trends for several FMI audiences (Board of Directors, Industry Relations Council, Growth Forum), the American Meat Conference, the Texas Insurance Academy, as well as client audiences. He is a frequent commentator on industry trends in print, radio and television with recent interviews for NBC News, APM Marketplace, the Washington Post, Forbes, Winsight Grocery Business, Progressive Grocer, the Dallas Morning News, KMOX Saint Louis and others.
Gary Hawkins has lived his career ahead of the curve, putting him in the right place at the right time to help guide the fast moving consumer goods retail industry into the future in a time of exponential technology growth using never-before-available capabilities to innovate the future of shopping.
Hawkins is the Founder and CEO of CART (Center for Advancing Retail & Technology). CART’s mission is to connect retail to new innovative capabilities through programs, events, and education. Knowing that awareness and discovery of new technologies are only one part of future success, the CART team is at the forefront of helping retailers, wholesalers, brand manufacturers, and solution providers cultivate a culture of innovation and agility through a proven process and approach. On the other side of innovation lies strategy development, technology roadmaps, and systems assessments. Hawkins and his team are uniquely positioned to assist retailers in preparing for the future.
Hawkins leverages his unique perspective into his role as board member and strategic adviser at select companies bringing exciting and game-changing capabilities to the market. Retail Mindsteps (retailmindsteps.com) serves as Hawkins’ personal blog and repository of the myriad articles and papers written for industry publications where he distills the complexity of tech-fueled retail innovation into digestible and actionable insights. Hawkins is the author of three books including the latest, Retail in the Age of ‘i’, that explores the future of retail propelled by the exponential growth of technology. In addition, Hawkins is a regular guest lecturer at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business in addition to keynoting retail conferences in the US and abroad.
Richard Kearns is the Executive Vice President of Distribution and Logistics at Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG). Richard is a member of the AWG Executive leadership team and has company-wide responsibility for warehouse and transportation operations, traffic, routing, labor negotiations, industrial engineering, corporate services and food safety, in addition to the New All in One Distribution Hub in Hernando MS. Over the last few decades, Richard has worked in various capacities in warehousing, distribution and operational roles in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Gary Kinneer is Director of Supply Chain at Weis Markets, Inc. Gary works collaboratively with the Weis Market’s distribution and transportation teams as well as wholesale, dedicated and third-party carriers, and various associated industry and CPG partners focusing on improving supply chain efficiencies, increasing associated revenue, and mitigating associated costs. Gary has extensive supermarket industry experience, prior to his current role Gary held various leadership positions in Store Operations. Gary received a BS in Business Management from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA. He currently resides in Camp Hill, PA with his wife Katrina, they have one daughter.
Arnold Kogan is a core member of the Consumer and Operations practices at Boston Consulting Group. Arnold is an expert in complexity management, supply chain planning, manufacturing and distribution strategy, global category sourcing, and digital capability building. He also leads the manufacturing & supply chain diagnostics and benchmarking topic globally. Arnold has extensive experience helping companies across center store categories (such as snacks and toys) and perimeter store categories (such as cheese and meat) transform their end-to-end supply chains to enable channel growth, increase EBITDA, and manage working capital.
Prior to joining BCG, Arnold was with Deloitte Consulting and Texas Instruments, where he worked in a variety of operations and finance leadership roles across the globe.
Shaun Lee is third generation in the mechanical business working in all facets of the industry from apprentice to CEO with more than 20 years in the mechanical industry (heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, lighting, and plumbing “HVACR”) then over 20 years in Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Co-Generation including Supermarkets.
Dylan Newman is a Principal with The Boston Consulting Group, where he specializes in Supply Chain Strategy & Optimization for Consumer Goods, Retail, and Industrial Goods clients. Specifically, Dylan has deep experience in Manufacturing & Distribution Network Optimization, Distribution Network Automation, S&OP/IBP, and Inventory Management. Dylan has led some of the largest Network Restructurings in the US which have required >$1B of capital. Dylan is a dual US and Irish citizen and graduated from Duke University with a BS in Economics where he was part of the Varsity Track & Field team.
Tracey Noffke joined Kimberly-Clark in 1993 and has over 25 years of growing up in the CPG industry. Tracey is the Director of Customer Logistics. In her current role, she leads the U.S. and Canada Customer Logistics Strategies and Service organization and is responsible for customer facing supply chain activities and initiatives. Tracey has a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Platteville and holds a Master of Arts in Communication from the University of Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
Steven Oakland is Chief Executive Officer and President of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS). He has served as a Director of TreeHouse since March 2, 2018 and was appointed CEO and President, effective March 26, 2018. TreeHouse is North America’s largest private label food and beverage producer focused on customer brands and custom products, with a network of manufacturing facilities across the United States, Canada and Italy.
Steve served as Vice Chair and President, U.S. Food and Beverage of The J.M. Smucker Company (Smucker’s) (NYSE: SJM), a manufacturer of branded food products, since May 2016. He previously served as President, Coffee and Foodservice of Smucker’s from April 2015 to April 2016; President, International Food Service of Smucker’s from May 2011 to March 2015; and President, U.S. Retail-Smucker’s Jif, and Hungry Jack from August 2008 to May 2011. Steve spent most of his career at Smucker’s, serving in increasingly senior positions including General Manager of Smucker’s Canadian operations from 1995 to 1999. He earned his B.A in Marketing and Economics from the University of Mount Union.
Steve has served on several community boards and is currently on the Board of Directors of TreeHouse Foods, Inc., Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE: FL), Foster Farms, and MTD Products Company.
Christine Pollack serves as Vice President of Government Relations for FMI - The Food Industry Association, the trade association for food retailers, wholesalers, and product suppliers. At FMI, she oversees the association's advocacy and policy efforts on payments, workforce, and supply chain.
Christine has 25 years of federal policy, advocacy, and communications experience in the public and private sectors, half of which has been spent working on behalf of the retail industry. Prior to joining FMI, Christine served on the staff of, and consulted for, the Retail Industry Leaders Association where she oversaw health, tax, and sustainability policy and political activities, and consulted on the wide breadth of retail industry policy priorities. She also has extensive experience managing stakeholder coalitions and developing and executing issue advocacy campaigns.
Earlier in her career, Christine worked for the American Medical Association, two senior Members of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax and trade policy, and at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. She is a gratulate of the University of Delaware and originally hails from Wilmington, Delaware.
Ryan Richard is currently the Vice President, Community Engagement at GS1 US. He is responsible for driving the adoption and voluntary usage of GS1 Standards and GS1 US offerings within the retail grocery channel, managing all business development initiatives and customer relationships.
Leslie G. Sarasin is the president and chief executive officer of FMI, the food industry association, which represents more than 1,500 member companies in the United States and around the world. Under Sarasin's leadership, FMI has become a forward focused and member centered organization committed to help supermarkets excel in their role of feeding families and enriching lives. Her synergistic style and determined spirit of collaboration has infused FMI with a renewed commitment to help its members address the critical industry issues of the day - food safety and the emerging importance of health and wellness. Prior to coming to FMI, Sarasin was president and CEO of the American Frozen Food Institute.
Smith is Manager, Supply Chain at ConAgra Brands and has spent the last 16 years involved in multiple supply chain jobs in Transportation and Warehousing. Mainly integrating and supporting systems such as SAP, OTM and JDA in all phases from design, implementation all the way through to stabilization.
Rachel Steele is the Vice President of Supply Chain at Schnuck Markets, Inc. in St. Louis, MO. Her areas of responsibility include warehousing, transportation and center store procurement. She started her career at Schnucks in the Legal group, and transitioned to the Supply Chain group in 2017.