<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Rick Stein highlights the vital role senior leaders play in inspiring innovation and collaboration in the fresh foods sector, particularly through their contributions to FMI’s FreshForward conference and its CEO Insights sessions.</em></p><p>By: Rick Stein, Vice President, Fresh Foods, FMI<br /></p><p><img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/leader-in-fresh-department.tmb-large-350-.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=10e4142b_1" style="float:right;margin:10px;" class="-align-right" alt="Leader in fresh department" sf-size="251127" />Leadership comes in many forms, and FMI places a big emphasis on the importance of leadership at all levels of the food industry.</p><p>Some of our association’s programs spotlight up-and-coming leaders, such as <a href="https://www.fmi.org/future-leaders">Future Leaders eXperience</a>. Others emphasize the contributions of leaders performing specific roles, such as the <a href="https://www.fmi.org/store-manager-awards">Store Manager Awards</a>. Yet another program, The Executive Leadership Awards, honors outstanding senior leaders across the industry and is presented at the association’s <a href="https://www.fmi.org/midwinter-conference">Midwinter Executive Conference</a>.<span style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;white-space:inherit;"></span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;text-align:inherit;text-transform:inherit;word-spacing:normal;caret-color:auto;white-space:inherit;">I want to emphasize here the critical role of top leaders in driving inspiration and innovation — especially in fresh foods, my area of focus at FMI. I like to call this role ‘fresh’ inspiration, with single quote marks around the word fresh. That’s because I am indicating a double meaning referring to fresh foods and to fresh ideas.</span></p><h5>Senior Leaders Champion Fresh Foods Inspiration </h5><p>Here’s why I am making the connection between fresh foods and top leaders. At FMI’s annual <a href="https://www.fmi.org/fresh-forward">FreshForward conference</a>, we lead off each of the key educational tracks with an introduction by a top food retail leader, which we call CEO Insights. For example, last year our three CEO Insights presentations were from top leaders at Giant Eagle, Wakefern Food Corp., and Northgate Gonzalez Market. <br /></p><p>This year’s FreshForward, which takes place August 11 to 13 in San Diego, is fortunate to again have three senior leaders introducing our 2025 tracks. Those tracks will be focused on health and well-being, labor hurdles and meal solutions opportunities. Here are the three leaders whose messages will launch each track:<br /></p><ul><li><strong>Craig Boyan,</strong> President and CEO of H-E-B, on health and well-being.</li><li><strong>Jeremy Gosch,</strong> Chairman of the board and CEO of Hy-Vee, on capturing meal occasions.<strong></strong></li><li><strong>Suzy Monford,</strong> <!–StartFragment–>a food industry veteran who has held top leadership roles at numerous retailers, will speak about labor challenges.<!–EndFragment–><br /></li></ul><p>The focus of these presentations is on fresh opportunities and new ways of thinking about them. Speakers often include calls to action and examples of how their organizations are making progress. The remarks are followed by an industry panel that goes into greater depth on each topic. <br /></p><h5>The Key Role of Collaboration</h5><p>The CEO Insights presenters typically emphasize the role of collaboration — both within their organizations and across the industry — for accelerating the success of fresh foods.<br /></p><p>That messaging plays into the unique role of FreshForward. Each education track concludes with breakout groups of attendees gathering to consider the speakers’ points and identify actions steps to drive progress. The most important of these steps will be published in the post-conference <a href="https://www.fmi.org/forms/store/ProductFormPublic/2024-fresh-forward-action-guide">FreshForward Action Guide</a>.<br /></p><h5>Looking at Fresh from Many Angles</h5><p>I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that FreshForward also coincides with the release of the FMI annual report called <em><a href="https://www.fmi.org/forms/store/ProductFormPublic/the-state-fresh-foods-2024">The State of Fresh Foods 2024</a></em>. FMI’s Leslie Sarasin, president and CEO, will relay the highlights in an opening session. Moreover, Hunt Shipman, principal and director, Cornerstone, will present a closing keynote about the impact of policy on fresh foods. The conference is also full of networking opportunities for the fresh industry community. <br /></p><p>I am looking forward to the upcoming FreshForward conference and hope to see you there. </p><p><a href="https://www.fmi.org/fresh-forward/registration" class="button">Register Today</a></p>
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