Cream of the crop

Since its inception in 2006, the Private Label Hall of Fame program has honored more than two dozen visionaries within the store brand arena. This year, the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) and Private Label => Store Brands magazine are pleased to add five deserving executives to that list of honorees.

Together, we solicited nominations from a wide range of executives involved in the marketing, distribution and/or manufacturing of private brands. The 2013 Private Label Hall of Fame inductees are profiled in the pages that follow. In addition, the inductees will be honored during PLMAs Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference, which is slated for March 21-24 at the J.W. Marriott Desert Springs Hotel in Palm Desert, Calif.

Selection criteria

Qualified nominees for the Private Label Hall of Fame are career private label professionals, living or deceased, who have contributed to the growth of store brands in the consumer marketplace in one or more of the following ways:

• Have served as a leader in store brand development and innovation.
• Have advanced the growth of store brands through the creative use of marketing, merchandising and promotions.
• Have contributed significantly to store brand technology in terms of manufacturing, packaging, label design and/or quality assurance.
• Have served as a champion of store brands within their own companies, business communities and the consumer marketplace.

Steven Burd

Master of the turnaround
Steven Burd, chairman and CEO of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway Inc. – one of the largest and most-respected food and drug retailers in North America – knows a thing or two about how to effect change. When he arrived at Safeway in 1992 (as president), he spearheaded a significant turnaround that produced industry-leading sales and cost reductions, the company notes, while developing an excellent reputation for superior customer service.

He drew on years of experience in doing so. Prior to joining Safeway in 1992, Burd was a general management consultant to more than a dozen companies in a multitude of industries, Safeway notes, including consumer products, manufacturing, retailing, oil and gas, and agriculture. For 10 years, he helped CEOs turn around their companies financial performance and business prospects. He earned a B.S. degree in economics from Carroll College in 1971 and an M.A. in economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1973.

In 2003, Burd launched a strategy to differentiate Safeways offerings by fundamentally reinventing its business through its Lifestyle store format, product innovation, operational efficiencies and new growth vehicles. The company now boasts an extended reach into the prescription drug business, with more than 1,300 in-store pharmacies, as well as many "extras" such as restaurant-quality prepared meals, fuel centers, online home delivery and Starbucks coffee cafés. And under Burds leadership, Safeway developed a truly impressive range of proprietary products – including an extensive line of private label products.

Eye on differentiation
Burds goal for Safeway on the private brands side was "to create a differentiated offering," says Diane Dietz, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Safeway.

"Steves leadership and vision have been a driving force behind the success of our private label program," she says. "He has a passion for innovation and drives this focus throughout the Safeway organization.

"Under his guidance, the company structured our efforts like a CPG company by focusing on the consumer, providing value, striving for innovation vs. replication, and delivering best-in-class quality," she adds. "The reinvented program utilized consumer insights to help identify trends and develop products that truly resonate with customers and meet their needs."

As it turns out, a focus under Burd on health and wellness resulted in the launch of some of the retailers most successful private brands, Dietz notes, including O Organics, Eating Right and Open Nature.

"With these brands, and other brands that offer superior quality at highly competitive prices, were addressing unique consumer needs," Dietz says.

New directions
In May, Burd will be retiring as chairman and CEO of Safeway, but he will continue to assist the company as he transitions out of his roles. He is also active outside the company; in addition to his post at Safeway, Burd serves as a director of Kohls Corp. and on the board of the Food Marketing Institute, Safeway notes.

And "retirement," in his case, might just signify the beginning of a new career and more good things to come.

"While I still have the high level of energy and enthusiasm I brought to the company 20 years ago, I need more personal time, and given my extensive work in health care, I want to pursue that interest further," Burd stated in a press release announcing his pending retirement.

But his influence on the Safeway organization is unlikely to be forgotten.

"The impact of Steves leadership in private label speaks for itself," Dietz says. "We have differentiated ourselves from our competitors in a way that is significant and meaningful to consumers. We focus on being adaptive and innovative by anticipating our customers needs and reacting with the highest-quality solution at the best price. Results like these come from strong leadership that starts at the top."

Peggy Davies

A partner and an advocate
When it comes to partnering with retailers and other customers, Peggy Davies has the right stuff. For that reason and more, Randy Wieland – vice president, sales for Lisle, Ill.-based McCain Foods USA, where Davies currently serves as vice president, industrial sales and the vegetable business – says her election to the Private Label Hall of Fame comes as no surprise to people who have known her for years.

"Peggy is a true, dedicated partner with her customers," Wieland explains. "She has the ability to represent the company to the customer and the customer to the company in a way that works for both.

"She is a tireless worker, willing to do anything required to get things done," he adds. "Peggy embodies integrity in all that she does, whether it be with her customers, her subordinates or her peers."

After honing her skills within the private label arena at companies such as Daymon Worldwide (where she served as an account manager) and Birds Eye Foods (where she served as vice president, private label sales), Davies joined McCain Foods in 1999 as director of private label sales. In 2004, she became vice president, storebrands.

"Peggy led the private label group for many years and was a painstaking perfectionist on behalf of her customers," says Frank van Schaayk, regional president – Americas for McCain Foods. "No detail was too small."

Chris Behmer, McCain Foods vice president, distribution development and sales planning, notes that Davies also has demonstrated a knack for meeting customer needs.

"Peggy is a strong customer advocate, able to match customer needs with company commitments," Behmer says. "She is detail-oriented, which allows her to guide a sale from proposition to delivery on a consistent basis. This quality is valued by her customers and makes Peggy worthy of the [Private Label] Hall of Fame."

Davies also has a long history of involvement on the PLMA board of directors, serving as board chair from 2003 to 2005. She is a long-time member of the PLMA Executive Education Program Adjunct Faculty, too; the program is conducted in concert with St. Josephs University, Philadelphia.

An advocate for women
More recently, Davies has become a strong advocate for womens advancement in the workplace.

In 2011, she led development of the McCain Foods Womens Resource Network, and now sits on the networks steering committee. Working collaboratively with the network, McCain Foods is "committed to be the employer of choice by recruiting, developing, and advancing women in the workplace, which will enable professional and personal growth."

Also in 2011, Davies founded Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence (WISE), an organization with a mission "to foster diverse collaboration and provide leadership that drives the continued success of the store brands industry." She currently serves as WISEs chair.

And since 2012, Davies has served as an advisory board member for the Global Womens Leadership Forum. The forum brings women across all industries together to network and share best practices and success stories specific to the acceleration of women in business.

Can-do attitude
Another thing that sets Davies apart from the crowd is an attitude toward getting the job done, says Frank Finn, president of McCain Foods USA.

"Peggy Davies is as committed an individual I have ever come across in making sure that her customer engagements are collaborative and grounded in good business values," he says. "One of McCains values is to Work Every Day to Make our Consumers and Customers Smile. I know she left nothing on the field when it came to this value with her customers. She did this by cherishing a can-do spirit – never taking no as an answer internally or externally."

Finn also notes that Davies high standards in terms of honesty, integrity and fairness set her apart, calling them "a hallmark for any long-standing business and personal relationship" and the reason she has achieved so much and is being recognized as an inductee into the Private Label Hall of Fame.

"Congratulations, Peggy," he adds.

Neil Golub

Innovator and community advocate
Neil Golub, executive chairman of Schenectady, N.Y.-based Golub Corp., parent company to the Price Chopper Supermarkets chain, grew up in the family grocery retail business and dedicated his entire career to it. He started the leadership portion of his career on a solid foundation – Golub Corp. pioneered the supermarket concept back in 1932, and introduced the beginnings of its private brands program in the 1940s. Neil himself brought to the table a business degree from Michigan and a masters degree from Cornell University; he later earned an honorary doctorate from Russell Sage College for Public Service.

While Golub was president and CEO, he – along with then-chairman, his cousin Lewis Golub – took Price Chopper down a path of significant innovation and growth in New York, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Among the milestones the pair achieved are the establishment of super-centers, an in-house sampling program, scratch artisan bakeries, bagel factories and a kosher store, Price Chopper notes, as well as the development of the Price Chopper AdvantEdge loyalty card and award-winning informational campaigns such as "Be Seafood Smart" and "Healthy U."

Private brand development also became a critical focus during their tenure. As a result, Price Chopper now boasts a strong three-tier corporate brand program (value, national-brand-equivalent and premium products) that also incorporates some key niche brands.

Still an industry force
Although Golub stepped down as CEO of Price Chopper in January 2012, he continues to eye opportunities for innovation in his role as chairman. An Oct. 4, 2012, article published on the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) website notes that Price Chopper plans to build a concept store in Latham, N.Y., through expansion of its existing retail site there. The store will house 16 different eateries and an in-house cooking school, as well as produce grown and harvested in-store.

"Our goal here is to create a store by which all other stores will be judged," Golub told the newspaper, adding that the details he shared represented just "the tip of the iceberg."

But Golub is a strong proponent of family in business, Price Chopper noted, so the next generation of his family is in the process of assuming control.

Golub also continues to serve on the board of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) – a food retailer/wholesaler industry organization with which hes long been involved. In 1999, FMI presented Golub with its Glen P. Woodard, Jr., Public Affairs Award, recognizing his leadership in helping the supermarket industry address important government issues.

"Neil is very skilled in presenting industry policies to the news media and public officials in a concise and compelling manner," said Leslie G. Sarasin, FMI president and CEO, at the time the award was announced. "He has used these talents on a wide range of critical issues, serving our industry over a career spanning five decades."

Community-minded
And Golub continues to balance his active business career with community-focused efforts, Price Chopper notes. He serves as life chairman of Paul Newmans Double "H" Hole in the Woods Ranch, a camp for critically ill children. He also is national vice president of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and has hosted the televised Labor Day Telethon for more than 25 years.

In addition, Golub and his wife Jane underwrote the Breast Care Center at Bellevue Womans Center and the Golub Emergency Services at Ellis Medicine in Schenectady. The couple recently announced the establishment of a Womans Heart Health Center at Bellevue as well.

Golub also was chairman and cofounder of Schenectady 2000, a major community project that led to the development of the Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority – the communitys economic engine. He continues to serve as a board member of Metroplex.

Milt Sender

Forward thinker
Milt Sender seems to have understood store brands growth potential long before most other U.S. retail industry leaders did. When he joined forces with Peter Schwartz to form Daymon Associates Inc. (now Daymon Worldwide Inc.) back in 1970, U.S. private label products largely were limited to generic items sporting black and white labels. Together, working out of a New York-based office, the partners aimed to maximize the potential of private brands through an emphasis on quality and differentiation.

"Milt Sender is one of the true pioneers of private brands," notes Carla Cooper, president and CEO of Daymon Worldwide. "Working with Daymon co-founder Peter Schwartz, Milt had the vision to see the enormous potential for private label products, and he made it his lifes work to build them into something that delivers value every day, to consumers, retailers and suppliers."

Prepared for the challenge
Sender brought to the Daymon partnership relevant retail industry experience – including that tied to private label – that no doubt helped the partners in their mission.

In 1965, he went to work for Staff Supermarket Associates, a Great Neck, N.Y.-based cooperative of 18 supermarket chains that bought a common private brand, as a special assistant to the president. Sender soon became the companys director of private brand perishables procurement. At the time, the chains included Hannaford, Wegmans, Schnucks, Brunos and others.

Sender then joined the Kroger Co. in Cincinnati in 1968 to become an administrative assistant to the executive vice president. According to Daymon, it was here that he worked on one of the first computerized sales forecasting programs using demographic diversity data. Thereafter, Sender was charged with developing and executing a plan to build the first "slow-moving common item warehouse" in the United States to relieve expansionary pressure from Krogers division warehouses.

A legacy of growth, innovation
Together with Schwartz – and without him after Schwartzs death from cancer in 1994 – Sender accomplished the partnerships original mission and then some. Since its founding more than 40 years ago, Daymon – now headquartered in Stamford, Conn. – has grown into a full-service retail branding and sourcing company with a global footprint that spans more than 100 offices. The company boasts 22,000 associates in more than 21 countries on six continents, and says it works with more than 100 retailers and more than 5,000 suppliers across channels that include grocery, mass, auto, convenience and more.

While guiding the company toward innovation and growth, Sender built lasting relationships with many of the legends in the industry, Cooper says.

"His passion for Daymon and its associates, as well as our retail partners and supplier customers, is second to none," she stresses.

One of those enduring relationships was with Schwartz. And following Schwartzs death, Sender and the associates of Daymon set up RICBAC, a cancer research and development group directed by Dr. Kurt Isselbacher of the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Daymon continues to support that group today.

Although Cooper replaced Sender as Daymons CEO in January 2011, he remains with the company as chairman. And Daymon continues to follow the path Sender helped to pave from the start.

Daymons services now go well beyond private label development to include strategy and branding, sourcing, retail services and consumer experience marketing. And in 2012, the company announced the launch of Daymon Global Logistics, a transportation management and logistics support solution.

"Times may change, and while Daymon has changed with them, private brands will always remain at the heart of who we are as a company," Cooper says. "All of us at Daymon are proud to carry on the legacy of private brand leadership and innovation established by Milt and Peter."

Donald Welge

Builder of a private label powerhouse
Donald Welge has served as president and CEO of Chester, Ill.-based Gilster-Mary Lee Corp. since 1965. He joined Gilster Milling Company in 1957, immediately after earning a bachelors degree in agricultural economics from Louisiana State University (LSU). He also is known for his partnership in the Mary Lee Donuts franchise in Baton Rouge, Gilster-Mary Lee notes.

Welge saw Gilster-Mary Lee through a number of significant expansions, including installation of its first macaroni and cheese production line in 1975; a joint venture with Rustco Corp., Denver, to make ready-to-spread frostings in 1978; entry into the private label ready-to-eat cereal business in 1983; entry into a full line of pastas in 1989; construction of a distribution center alongside its popcorn plant in McBride, Mo., in the early 1990s; and many more.

Over the years, Welge has helped to build the privately held company into a $900-plus-million dry food private label powerhouse with 15 plants and 3,500 employees. Gilster-Mary Lee says it now produces more than 8,000 items – including baking mixes, coatings, cereals and much more – under more than 500 different private label brands, as well as under its own Hospitality brand. According to a March 23, 2012 article published on the St. Louis Business Journal website, the companys 2011 revenue was $925 million, up 8.8 percent from the previous year.

Active in business and beyond
Welge is actively involved with numerous professional, community and civic groups and has served on the boards of or as an officer of the Perryville, Mo., Chamber of Commerce, the Chester Chamber of Commerce, the Okaw Valley Boy Scout Council, St. Johns Lutheran School, and Buena Vista Bank, Gilster-Mary Lee notes. He currently serves as president of the banks holding company. He was named Southern Illinois Business Leader of the Year in 1988, the Chester Post Veterans of Foreign Wars Citizen of the Year in 1986 and 2001, and the Chester Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 1992.

A major benefactor of LSUs Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Welge has contributed generously to the departments five scholarships and supports a professorship, the company says. He also has maintained strong ties with LSU, the LSU AgCenter and the College of Agriculture, and served for many years on the colleges alumni board. Welge received the College of Agricultures Outstanding Alumni Award in 2003 and served on the Deans Strategic Planning committee from 2009 to 2010. He was inducted into the LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction in 2012.

On a personal note, Welge and his wife Mary Alice will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in August of this year. They have two sons, Rob – also an LSU graduate – and Tom, both of whom are in business with their father, and four grandchildren.

Appreciation for customer, suppliers, employees
Welge says he would like to thank Gilster-Mary Lees customers, suppliers and employees for helping the company serve the private label industry over the past half century.

"I would also like to thank PLMA and the people that nominated me for the honor of being included in the [Private Label] Hall of Fame," he says. "In the years that I have been in this business, I have seen tremendous advances in private label. In those early days, based solely on price, labels might be sent from canner to canner, with frequent change in both suppliers and quality. Today, there is a clear understanding in the industry that quality and service are equally important, if not more important, than price alone.

"Through the work of private label customers, PLMA and private label manufacturers, consumers have come to trust quality in private label merchandise as they trust quality in national brands," he adds. "Thank you again for nominating me."