Photo Friday: Supporting Member Growth and Advocacy

<p>Recently, FMI&rsquo;s President and CEO Leslie Sarasin and Chief Public Policy Officer Jennifer Hatcher were invited to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony for FMI member Associated Wholesale Grocers. The company opened a new, state-of-the-art facility in Hernando, MS, that will serve more than 3,500 stores and support 600 new technology-based jobs when fully operational. Alongside other FMI members in attendance to celebrate the opening, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves and local officials participated in the event.&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align:center;"><img sf-custom-thumbnail="true" src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/awg-ribbon-cutting-warehouse.jpg?sfvrsn=567d017a_1" style="display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" sf-constrain-proportions="true" class="-align-center" width="600" alt="AWG Ribbon-Cutting Warehouse" sf-size="100" /><i>AWG leadership inside the new Hernando facility – including FMI board member and AWG CEO David Smith; Governor Tate Reeves; and FMI President and CEO Leslie Sarasin.</i></p><p style="text-align:center;"><img sf-custom-thumbnail="true" src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/awg-ribbon-cutting-celebration.jpg?sfvrsn=4dbcc903_1" style="display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" sf-size="100" class="-align-center" width="450" alt="AWG Ribbon-Cutting Celebration" sf-constrain-proportions="true" /><i>FMI&rsquo;s Jennifer Hatcher and Leslie Sarasin share stories with FMI Board member Joey Hays.</i></p><p>On Wednesday, FMI was also invited to attend a press conference hosted by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) announcing the <a href="https://www.fmi.org/newsroom/latest-news/view/2023/06/07/fmi-praises-house-and-senate-introduction-of-legislation-increasing-credit-card-competition">introduction</a> of the Credit Card Competition Act in Congress. Addressing the lack of competition resulting in exorbitant credit card swipe fees that credit card companies are able to levy on retailers is one of FMI&rsquo;s top policy priorities this year.<font color="inherit" face="inherit" size="-1">&nbsp;</font></p><p>This important legislation would require more than one network to be enabled on credit cards, giving food retailers choice in payment routing, increasing redundancy, and fostering competitive innovations in services like fraud protection for merchants and consumers alike. FMI is incredibly grateful to bill sponsors Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Roger Marshall, Peter Welch (D-VT) and J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Reps. Lance Gooden (R-TX), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) and Tom Tiffany (R-WI).&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align:center;"><img sf-custom-thumbnail="true" src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/marshall-ccca-press-event.jpeg?sfvrsn=61618c31_1" style="display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;" sf-size="100" class="-align-center" width="550" alt="Marshall CCCA Press Event" sf-constrain-proportions="true" /><i>Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) speaks outside the U.S. Capitol about the Credit Card Competition Act, surrounded by other sponsors/co-sponsors of the bill &ndash; Senator Peter Welch (D-VT), Senator JD Vance (R-OH), Congressman Lance Gooden (R-TX) and Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ).</i></p>

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