Davies worked her way up at Kraft Heinz, winning two sales awards in the process. At the helm of the customer business team for the Metro Quebec account, Davies led the team to 9.8% growth while the industry average was less than 2%. She was recently promoted to run the company’s non-national accounts, such as Metro and Longos. “You have to have strong analytics so that you understand your category, and the role your products play in those categories and with your customer,” Davies says.
Ali Davies — Kraft-Heinz
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As Longo’s VP of human resources, Volk established herself as a leader. “She exemplifies Longo’s founding intention of lifelong learning—by building programs that help set people up for success,” says president and CEO, Anthony Longo. Volk built a strong HR team, growing it to 20 employees, from six. She spearheaded Longo’s annual leadership conference and implemented a competitive employee benefits program; and developed of a talent planning process that gives staff a chance to discuss their careers.
Liz Volk — Longo's
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First hired as a receptionist, Martin pursued educational opportunities to propel her career. Fast-forward 25 years, and she is spearheading the company’s first five-year human resources strategy, developing mentorship programs and strengthening internal communication. Her efforts have improved employee retention, with voluntary turnover declining to 3.9%, from 14%, in the past 10 years. Nancy Marcus, corporate vice-president of marketing, says, “You couldn’t have someone in this industry who is more committed to employees...”
Lucie Martin — Kruger
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Cameron started in the grocery industry as a part-time IGA cashier. After several years as an IGA franchisee, she became director of operations at Sobeys. She was promoted to vice-president of operations for FreshCo, and supported rebranding of the Price Chopper banner to FreshCo. In 2015, she became vice-president of operations and merchandising for Sobeys Foodland banner in Ontario. She regularly visits Foodland stores to coach franchisees, and helped revitalize Foodland’s 20-person liaison committee.
Cindy Cameron — Sobeys
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Kaslo Sourdough is a second-generation family business. Lettrari says that’s a motivating factor. “Knowing that I have a stake in the business and am working toward ownership and continuing my parent’s legacy.” Lettrari, who, along with her father, developed the Kaslo, B.C. company’s sourdough pasta recipe, has devoted considerable energy to the branding and consumer education required to bring a new product to market. The pasta sells in several provinces and even Australia.
Heidi Lettrari — Kaslo Sourdough
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Matheson joined Pepsi 20 years ago building and promoting brands such as Lay’s, Miss Vickie’s, Smartfood and Quaker. Some of the successful programs she has produced with her team include Lay’s “Do Us a Flavour” campaign and Doritos’ “Roulette.” Risk has its rewards, Matheson notes: “All new things—advertising, products, innovation—are inherently risky.” Matheson founded Pepsi Canada’s Women’s Inclusion Network 11 years ago, and mentors women to this day.
Kathryn Matheson — Pepsico Foods Canda
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Virgilio manages two independent grocery stores located north of Toronto. Under her watch, both achieved higher sales per square foot than the industry average. Virgilio, recently oversaw a $3.5-million renovation of the Concord store, introducing new departments and expanding other sections, such as freshly prepared and organic fare. The Concord reno brought a new look; it’s also the reason behind a 12% to 15% sales life. This fall, Virgilio will start renos at the Oak Ridges’ location.
Rina Virgilio — Concord Food Centre and Oak Ridges Food Markets
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Thompson joined Crossmark four years ago, but she’s worked in grocery for 20 years. She proves passionate about making a trip to the store a delight, not a chore. “I don’t think I’m alone in this desire, which is why I’m driven to work with our client and retail partners to deliver great experiences for shoppers,” she says. “We’ve leveraged data to ensure that our reps are at the right store at the right time.” Thompson’s initiatives have improved on-shelf availability.
Kim Thompson — Crossmark Canada
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Successful marketers are one-part creative, one-part innovation and one-part business-minded, and Yorke has all three skills. As Overwaitea’s director of marketing, she developed award winning campaigns including the Darrell’s Deals promotion, which helped achieve a record sales lift for Save-On-Foods. Yorke played a role in launching Save-On-Foods in Regina and has maintained long-term partnerships with sports teams such as the Vancouver Canucks and B.C. Lions.
Gillian Yorke — Overwaitea
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Pharand earned her MBA before starting a career in food retail. She spent 18 years at the Provigo chain in Quebec, where she worked various merchandising, procurement and operations roles. She worked as vice-president of supply chain at restaurant chain St-Hubert, before joining Metro, in 2011. Now, Pharand oversees 200 plus stores, and was a driving force in implementing new back-end technology that helped change Metro’s inventory system by reducing store losses for grocery products.
Catherine Pharand — Metro
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Anger is a proven leader in the CPG industry. For the past three years, her position of vice-president of customer development and consumer sales at Kimberly-Clark has been a perfect fit. Under her leadership, net sales have consistently risen. The Canadian sales team took the No. 1 spot in the 2013 Advantage survey, which rates supplier performance, and reached the Top 10 in 2015. Anger launched the Canadian chapter of Kimberly-Clark’s Women’s Interactive Network.
Carla Anger — Kimberly-Clark
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Hou’s approach to marketing for Lee Kum Kee products is far from traditional. She uses social media, such as WeChat, to reach diverse demographics. Hou used household door-drops and free samples at public transit stations to move sriracha mayo out of the ethnic aisle and into the mainstream deck. “Canada is a multicultural market; there are no longer boundaries,” says Nancy Kwon of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.
Catherine Hou — Lee Kum Kee
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Kragh joined Overwaitea in 1993, working in the accounts payable department. She progressed to more senior roles, earning an MBA and a certified accountant designation. In 2014, when she developed the financial model to support Overwaitea’s purchase of 15 stores from Sobeys—the company’s largest acquisition to date. Kragh was promoted to director of budgeting and forecasting, in January 2015. Over the past year, she’s led the development of financial models to support merchandising programs, including Overwaitea’s fresh-meat offering: the “Fast, Fresh and Fabulous” line of ready-to-cook meals.
Mona Kragh — Overwaitea Food Group
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Eriksson knows how to carry out a winning idea, like hiding the Cheerios bee mascot to highlight the plight of the world’s declining honeybee population. Amanda Hsueh, associate marketing director at General Mills, calls the honeybee campaign a bold move that resulted in 170 million earned impressions in six weeks. Hsueh says, Emma has “achieved outstanding results in grocery even during times that have been challenging for traditional CPG companies.”
Emma Eriksson — General Mills Canada
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Willemsen worked on her father’s fruit farm, in Ohio, and later managed his produce store. She planned to take over the family business until she met her future husband. She moved to Sarnia, Ont., to help him run his produce shop. Today, Sunripe operates three grocery stores. Willemsen developed Sunripe’s ready-to-eat business, creating many of the recipes in her kitchen. She’s always on the lookout for new products to turn into Sunripe brands.
Ingrid Willemsen — Sunripe
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Ross leads the vision for all private-label brands, including Loblaw’s President’s Choice. She meets regularly with product developers, evaluating at every stage of development. “A big part of my responsibility is ensuring that we’re delivering on the trust consumers expect,” says Ross, a trained chef. Ross manages a culinary team; guides the development of product and ingredient standards, such as the removal of artificial colours and flavours from PC products.
Kathlyne Ross — Loblaw
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