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GMA
Coordinates Haiti Relief Efforts GMA helps member companies coordinate relief efforts after Haiti’s worst earthquake in 200 years.
Supply
Chain Conference Begins This Weekend
The first Trading Partner Alliance joint supply chain conference combining FMI and GMA’s annual conferences gets underway this weekend.
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7-Eleven CEO Joseph M. DePinto The CEO of 7-Eleven goes unrecognized for a week working undercover in disguise in the backrooms and counters of his own company.
“…{A} CEO with easy charm and a steely business acumen, a leader of the convenience store chain that has more stores than any other American retailer – Joseph M. DePinto.”
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Ben
Fischer, COO, CROSSMARK This COO helped steer the national expansion plan for the more than 100-year-old sales and marketing firm in Plano, TX.
“{M}ost problems don’t need regression analysis and a Ph.D. to get solved. Instead a practical look at what’s working and what isn’t is often enough.” -- Ben Fischer
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GMA Helps Companies Coordinate Haitian Relief Efforts Again, the food and grocery industry is among the first to respond with aid to communities or countries in crisis. This time, the emergency is in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, some 700 miles from U.S. shores.
GMA is partnering with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) to identify the most needed items and coordinate the logistics in getting these products on the ground on the island of Hispaniola as quickly as possible.
Industry Affairs Senior Manager Brooke Weizmann is coordinating GMA’s relief efforts. She says companies can click here for a list of the most urgently needed items at this time.
For more details, Weizmann can be reached at 202.295.3955. GMA’s Web site also has an access portal to ALAN and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Contact: Brooke Weizmann
Supply Chain Conference Draws Large Numbers Approximately 500 industry executives have registered for the 2010 Supply Chain Conference beginning Sunday, Jan. 31, and continuing to Feb. 2 in Phoenix. As directed by the GMA/FMI Trading Partner Alliance, the conference combines GMA’s yearly Information Systems/Logistics Distribution Conference with FMI’s annual Supply Chain Conference for the first time to showcase the latest in trends, programs and successful practices in the U.S. food and grocery supply chain.
It’s too late for on-line registration. However, late-comers can register on-site at the conference headquarters, the J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge Resort, Phoenix, beginning Jan. 31. For program information, click here.
Watch next month’s
Industry Affairs Review for an in-depth look of the updated supply chain
report.
Contact: Jeanne Iglesias
Salute to 2010
Wolford Named GMA Chairman, New Board Members Added Richard Wolford was named chairman of the GMA board of directors Monday at its meeting in Florida. The chairman , president and CEO of Del Monte Foods had served as GMA’s vice chairman of the board and as chairman of the Industry Affairs Council. He succeeds Campbell Soup Company President and CEO Doug Conant as GMA chairman.
Four new board members also were named: William “Sandy” Douglas III, president, North American Group, The Coca-Cola Company; Tom Ferriter, president and CEO, Bush Brothers & Company; Melanie Healey, Group Vice President, North America, The Procter & Gamble Company; and Michael Mendes, president, CEO and director, Diamond Foods Inc. Contact: Ginny Smith
Webinar Set February 4 on Rapid Recall Exchange
Contact: Brian Lynch
Issues Update Is Focus of Industry Affairs Council Meet The midwinter meeting of the Industry Affairs Council (IAC) last week in Florida heard briefings on product safety and recall management (by Procter & Gamble’s Jim Flannery), retail-ready packaging (by J.M. Smucker Company’s Vince Byrd and Georgia-Pacific’s Sean Fallmann) and hunger in America (by GMA’s Stephen Sibert). GMA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Government Officer Mary Sophos reviewed the GMA strategic plan and 2010 priorities, and a representative from the Paris-based Consumer Goods Forum presented an overview of the newly formed organization. Contact: Stephen Sibert
GMA-FMI Boards Hear Updates on TPA, Social Media, More On the first anniversary of the GMA-FMI Trading Partner Alliance or TPA, leaders Rick Wolford (chairman and CEO) and Ed Crenshaw (CEO of Publix Super Markets Inc.) briefed a joint meeting of the GMA and FMI boards of directors last weekend on the progress made by the collaborative industry group.
Left to right, DelMonte’s Rick Wolford, Publix Super Market’s Ed Crenshaw, Harvard Professor John Deighton and Kellogg’s David Mackay.
Also at the Orlando meeting, business cases for social and digital media and interactive marketing were presented by Professor John Deighton of the Harvard Business School.
David Mackay (president and CEO, Kellogg Company) briefed board members on health and wellness issues, and Dave Dillon (chairman and CEO, The Kroger Company) discussed the new Paris-based Consumer Goods Forum.
GMA Chairman Doug Conant (president and CEO, Campbell Soup Company) and FMI Chairman Ric Jurgens (chairman, president and CEO, Hy-Vee Inc.) presided at the joint meeting.
Three Companies’ IS Models Subject of Virtual Meeting In a virtual meeting of the Information Systems Committee mid-month, representatives from General Mills Inc., Georgia-Pacific LLC and E&J Gallo Winery outlined their IS organizational models and their strategic position in adding value to the company’s core delivery and brand. General Mills’ Sue Simonett, Georgia-Pacific’s Dana Graham and E&J Gallo Winery’s Kevin Barnes led the discussion forum. Next meeting: late April/early May. Contact: Jeanne Iglesias
Panel Held on Joint Industry Approach to Product Recall Raising product safety and boosting consumer confidence – top priorities for GMA, FMI and GS1 U.S. and their members – were the subjects of a panel during the FMI Midwinter Conference earlier this week. Panel members outlined collaborative programs focusing on building efficiencies in recall notification and execution. Participants included Joe Crafton, president CROSSMARK, and Chris Baldwin, president, snacks and cereals, Kraft Foods Inc., both members of the joint GMA FMI working group for recall management. Other panelists included Leslie Sarasin, president and CEO, FMI; Lynn Marmer, group vice president for corporate affairs, The Kroger Co.; and Bob Carpenter, president and CEO, GS1 U.S. Contact: Brian Lynch
WhiteWave Foods Committed to Fighting Hunger in America GMA member-company WhiteWave Foods is committed to nourishing its local and global neighbors. Each year, the Colorado headquarters employees participate in the Compete to Beat Hunger Corporate Challenge, an event hosted by Community Food Share (CFS), a local non-profit that provides food for the hungry in Boulder and Bloomfield counties.
The company made financial contributions to CFS as well, including sponsorship of their Tee Up Against Hunger golf tournament and their Spring Fest dinner dance. White Wave scaled back its holiday party last month to donate the money saved to CFS. (Editor’s Note: Does your company have specific programs to combat hunger in America? Send your information to pgiles@gmaonline.org to be featured in Industry Affairs Review.) Contact: Stephen Sibert
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DePinto’s Leadership at 7-Eleven
By Planet Retail What do you get when you combine a gruelling West Point engineering education with a man who makes television commercials? A business training at prestigious Kellogg School of Management with out-of-the-box attitudes such as going undercover in disguise for a week, working the counters and the backrooms of your own stores?
What you get is a CEO with easy charm and a steely business acumen, a leader of the convenience store chain that has more stores than any other American retailer – Joseph M. DePinto. (By the way, the TV commercials recruited officers for the U.S. Army, where this Chicago native served from 1986 to 1991.)
DePinto has been the president and CEO of 7-Eleven Inc. since 2005, replacing Jim Keyes, who is now the CEO of Blockbuster. This is DePinto’s second spell at 7-Eleven, having worked for the company as vice president of operations from 2002 to 2005, when he left to become president of GameStop. Prior to March 2002, DePinto was senior vice president and COO of Thornton Oil Corporation. He began his career at PepsiCo, where he held a number of executive positions.
DePinto works undercover at a 7-Eleven. Copyright: CBS Corp
Recently DePinto donned a disguise and went undercover at 7-Eleven as an employee-in-training to see how his company worked from the bottom-up. Growing a beard and garbed in hat and glasses, he went unrecognized for a week as he made doughnuts, delivered product and worked the counters. The experience was taped by CBS Televison and broadcast last year on its “Undercover Boss” series.
"The most important thing I learned..is how critical it is that we must take care of our stores and their employees who are taking care of our customers," DePinto said. "This is our mission, and all of us have an important role."
Under DePinto’s leadership, 7-Eleven is learning from the experience of its Japanese owner Seven & I, whose Seven-Eleven Japan subsidiary in its home market continues to generate higher sales densities. Key growth initiatives for 7-Eleven Inc. include:
Increased Store Numbers/Density Planned: In practical terms this means increasing the number of stores in profitable areas. Between 150-200 new stores will be added in North America over the next three to four years, possibly through acquisition (such as the White Hen network). The company is focusing on increasing store density in certain areas to improve synergies and distribution.
In order to achieve expansion as part of its clustering policy, the development of franchised stores is inevitable. In fact, franchised stores account for more than 90 percent of stores in Japan, compared to 65 percent (excluding area licensed stores) in North America. For this reason, the company has begun a business conversion plan to offer owners of independent grocery stores and gas stations to convert their stores to 7-Eleven franchised stores. This plan includes conversion of its company-owned stores to franchised operations – a process could take up to five years.
7-Eleven
has been focusing on developing merchandise that offers higher margins than fu
DePinto: Personal: Married and the father of four sons, DePinto lives in Southlake, Texas. Outside of work, he is a member of the Advisory Councils for Outlook Leadership, the Japan-America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth, and is a Network of Executive Women Champion.
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Current Position: Chief Operating Officer, CROSSMARK
Industry Leadership: Fischer serves as a member of GMA’s Chairman’s Advisory Council. He also is past chairman and a current committee member of the GMA Sales Agency Committee, and he serves on the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Board of Directors.
Career Highlights: Starting out as an account executive at CROSSMARK in 1989, Fischer worked his way up to the position of COO in 2009. He helped steer the national expansion plan for the more than 100-year-old sales and marketing firm headquartered in Plano, TX. that employs more than 20,000 associates in offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Fischer also created the company’s national account strategy, headed its Kroger team and lead CROSSMARKs early expansion into the Northeast. “And along the way, I’ve created a lot of great friendships through the past 25 years in the CPG industry,” he said.
Personal: Fischer has been married to wife Pam for 26 years. They have two children – Michael, 18, and Amanda, 14. He does not lack for hobbies and loves basketball (attended Northern Kentucky University on a basketball scholarship), golf, hunting, fishing and reading.
Education: BS, Marketing, Northern Kentucky University
First Job: “During my senior year in college, I was a manager in a fried chicken store called Famous Recipe in Florence, KY. I learned a great deal from this job. I learned how to work with and manage people of all ages and backgrounds – from young men and women working part time to middle aged folks working for a living to senior citizens looking to make some additional spending money. I learned how to understand what motivates people, a powerful tool that fosters better connectivity and goal alignment. I also learned a great deal about customer service, in particular that most people are really easy to please if you just treat them with respect, are humble, do what you say you will do and allow the customer’s voice to be heard. If you do these things, 99 percent of all issues go away. Little did I know at the time that this experience would help lay a foundation for me to run a major service company one day.
How did you get where you are today? “I wish I had some real words of inspiration, but in reality it all happened almost by accident versus some master plan. I think the things that helped me most include:
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Vol. 4 No. 1
January 2010
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Sign Up Others Send Feedback Unsubscribe
Industry Affairs Review is produced by the Grocery Manufacturers Association in cooperation with Planet Retail. Current and past issues may be found here. If you wish to add colleagues’ names to the mailing list or if you wish to unsubscribe, please click here, or write to jdowney@gmaonline.org.
@ Copyright 2009 by GMA, 1350 I Street N.W. #300, Washington, D.C. 20005. All rights reserved. The content and copyright for the lead profile is owned by Planet Retail, a leading provider of grocery retail intelligence— www.planetretail.net.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) represents the world’s leading food, beverage and consumer products companies. The association promotes sound public policy, champions initiatives that increase productivity and growth and helps ensure the safety and security of consumer packaged goods through scientific excellence. The GMA board of directors is comprised of chief executive officers from the association’s member companies. The $2.1 trillion food, beverage and consumer packaged goods industry employs 14 million workers, and contributes over $1 trillion in added value to the nation’s economy. For more information, visit the GMA Web site at www.gmaonline.org |
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A
new joint GMA/FMI project —the 2010 joint industry Survey
of Collaborative Supply Chain Effectiveness Report — will be available at
the conference. A general session led by Jack Horst, principal, Kurt Salmon
Associates, will preview this first joint industry supply chain study since
a KSA’s similar survey in 2001 served as the basis for much of the
collaborative industry work done in the nine years since. 
Register
today for the Rapid Recall Exchange webinar to be held Thursday, February 4
at 2 p.m. The session is aimed primarily at manufactures but executives from
other industry segments may participate. The Web seminar is hosted jointly
by GMA and GS 1 U.S. for executives to learn more about the new online
service that uses industry expertise and successful practices to standardize
product recall and withdrawal notifications. The exchange provides prompt
and accurate information exchanges, protecting consumers and saving time and
costs for trading partners. GMA Industry Affairs Director of Sales and Sales
Promotion Brian Lynch and Vice President of Solutions at GS1 U.S. Tamara
Kenney will present at the webinar. 
Last
year, 100 percent of WhiteWave headquarters employees donated to the
corporate challenge with the company matching their contributions
dollar-for-dollar. That raised enough money to provide more than 330,000
meals to local people in need. Additionally, last year employees volunteered
more than 800 hours at CFS, helping sort food in the food bank or gathering
holiday donations from shoppers at area grocery stores. WhiteWave also
donated more than 1.6 million pounds of dairy products to the organization.
CROSSMARK’s
Ben Fischer 
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Book Surveys Demands On CPG Sales Force
Not just your product salesperson any more. Talent Triage: Raising the Bar on CPG Sales Force Talent Management is a recent GMA study that charts the new and expanded roles the sales force must play in today's CPG companies. Download a copy of the study here.
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GMA Industry Affairs Group:
Manager Industry Affairs & Business Development
Coordinator Supply Chain & Technology
Executive Assistant Industry Affairs
Jeanne Iglesias
Jill Johnson
Director Industry Affairs & Associate Membership
Senior Manger Sales & Sales Promotion
Assistant Sales & Sales Promotion
Senior Manager Industry Performance |
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Industry Affairs Review Team:
Natalie Berg
Jo
Anne Sharlach Editor |
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