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Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence Welcomes Three New Board Members

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Jen Linke | Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence | jenlinke@wisediversity.org | Phone: 630-207-2042

Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence Welcomes Three New Board Members

Lombard, IL – November 16 – Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence (WISE) has elected three new members to its board of directors. At the group’s annual meeting on November 4, Sheila Dy Juanco, Albertson’s; Lisa Eatherton, John B. Sanfilippo & Son; and Phyllis Johnson, Catalina were elected to serve a three-year term starting January 1, 2022.

“WISE is thrilled to officially welcome these three amazing women to our board of directors,” quotes Jen Linke, WISE Chair. “Phyllis and Lisa are familiar with our board having been volunteers and integral contributors to the first year of our WISE Junior Board. Sheila’s extensive experience in R&D compliance is going to bring a different, and most welcome, lens to our organization. We look forward to having them directly involved in shaping our vision moving forward.”

These newly elected board members have strong industry experience. Sheila Dy Juanco is the Vice President of Technical Services for Albertson’s. She has more than 20 years of experience in R&D compliance spanning a number industries. In addition to the WISE board, Sheila also devotes time to a MBA Leadership mentorship for budding women in business and is active with the Asian Network ARG across Albertsons Companies. Lisa Eatherton is a Sr. Business Manager for John B. Sanfilippo & Son and has held several positions in sales and marketing for the company. Lisa has volunteered on the WISE Professional Development Committee since 2019, and most recently, became a member of the first WISE Junior Board in 2021. Phyllis Johnson is Sr. Director Own Brands at Catalina. She brings 25 years of Own Brand experience to the Board, and was recently just given the Store Brand 2021 Game Changers Award by StoreBrands magazine. In her “free time”, Phyllis supports various nonprofit organizations by volunteering her time to teach and mentor young and upcoming business professionals.

The three new members are replacing spots vacated by Nancy Cota, Albertson’s; Laura Fezouti, C.H. Guenther & Son; and Susan Hunsacker, Advantage/Daymon. “The women leaving our board at the end of the year have contributed so much to our organization,” notes Linke. “Each has left a lasting mark on WISE and is an important reason why we have grown. Nancy, Laura and Susan, thank you so much for being a part of our WISE family.”

WISE is a non-profit professional development organization, founded by women, to champion the power of diversity and inclusion which drives profitable growth within the store brands industry. WISE cultivates diverse collaboration through its programs and provides leadership to empower the industry's continued success. For more information on WISE and its programs, visit www.wisediversity.org.

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Global Diversity Awareness Month is upon us and it’s time for celebration!

By: Michele Hanson, CEO ExecuInsight

It’s time to celebrate our differences and the uniqueness each and every person brings to this World. It’s a time to remember that we are ONE and we are here on this Earth to positively contribute in some way. We each should have the opportunity to bring our whole selves to every element of our lives, to be at our best and help to make this World a better place.

It is important that we each do what we can to create a more inclusive World whether that is in your work place, in your community, in other communities or countries in need, or just in your own home. Taking action can be difficult. It can be just a small step like saying “hello” to a person that is of a different race or a person that may live very differently than you. Or, it can be as big as traveling to assist in rebuilding after a devastating volcano or hurricane event. Whatever you chose to do, whatever fits your work & life style, is what is best. There are no rule books except to remember that we are all human beings who have been placed on this planet to do the best that we can with what we are given.

If you need some ideas on what you can do to promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion during the month of October and beyond, check out this Global Diversity Awareness Guide published by the Diversity Movement (Oct. 2021).

Let us know of the steps you are taking to promote inclusion in your World by posting your story to our ExecuInsight Facebook page or to our LinkedIn page. We will be interviewing and doing stories each week highlighting people who are taking small and large steps to unite all.

Christmas in March? Seasonal Items

Planning Ahead Is Key for Launching Seasonal Items

With the amazingly warm summer we’ve been having it’s hard to think ahead to the fall and winter holiday season. But people like Jamie Willison, Key Account Manager for Schreiber Foods, have been thinking about the holidays for months! Schreiber, like many private label manufacturers, offers seasonal items that celebrate the flavors of the holidays. For Jamie, seasonal planning begins right after the New Year to ensure inventories for the fall.

Planning for holiday seasonal items begins as early as March with demand planning explains Jamie. It’s the key time for gaining customer commitments to plan line time, and ingredient and packaging needs. This year, planning has been more taxing with supply side challenges. “The flexibility in planning isn’t there this year,” states Jamie. “Packaging lead times are longer, the carrier network is strained . . . everything is behind.” With a perishable product like cream cheese, a matter of two to three weeks of difference in lead time can mean all the difference in time on the shelf and net product loss.

Aside from production planning, offering seasonal items means staying highly informed on flavor and consumer trends. Schreiber has their own market insights team that sends out trend reports. They also rely on information from their plants in Europe, India, South America and Mexico. “We can use our global footprint to borrow product ideas and play off of each other,” Jamie says. “I am constantly reviewing product assortments to put my customers in the best position with consumers.” For companies without their own consumer insights department key trend information can be gleaned by watching social media ads and reading key industry publications.

Product versatility is also an advantage when it comes to presenting limited time offers to retail accounts. For Schreiber, a product like cream cheese lends itself to many uses from a bagel topping to a baking ingredient. They can more easily adapt this product to flavor trends whether it be sweet berry flavors or savory like the currently popular everything bagel flavor. Aside from flavor innovation, Schreiber can offer this item in varying sizes such as pumpkin cream cheese cups to celebrate the fall holidays.

When offering seasonal items to retail partners, Jamie offers that “the biggest and best thing in your arsenal is your buyer relationships.” She continues, “getting face time especially now with the new normal work environment isn’t easy. A strong relationship is going to get you the time.” To establish a relationship in offering a private brand item, it helps immensely to have an established relationship on another item or program. If it’s your first product offering, working with a broker who is well respected with the retailer is an attractive option. Know that it may take time before the first sell-in happens. Jamie shares that with one key account “I went out and met with them as soon as I started, and took them about four years before becoming a Private Brand customer of Schreiber’s.”

Another piece of advice from Jamie is to make sure that you are managing the sell in. It’s important to manage the details from preparation on the front end with getting commitments and sharing price points to follow through in making sure orders are getting placed, orders are shipping as closely as possible to production time and product is getting on shelf in a short time. In the end, you have a limited time to get the sell-through on a seasonal product, generally 8-12 weeks.

While the change over to seasonal items seems to happen overnight on supermarket shelves, that change happens due to diligent planning and management from our manufacturers. As you savor your pumpkin flavored cream cheese, cookie dough, coffee creamer or tea this holiday season, remember that people like Jamie have been thinking of your holiday splurge since March!

WISE Forms Its First Junior Board of Directors

WISE has formed a junior board of directors to further its mission of increased diversity and inclusion in store brands and to provide leadership opportunities to empower our partners and members. The WISE junior board was created to be a diverse representation of our industry in background, skill set, gender, and ethnicity with the focus on connecting to the next generation of the store brand industry. Comprised of seven members from WISE partner companies, the junior board is tasked with bringing ideas and strategic solutions forward that will attract and retain young professionals as WISE members. In addition, the junior board provides valuable board leadership experience to its members.

Leading this group is Phyllis Johnson, Senior Director Own Brands at Catalina. Phyllis will be guiding the junior board members as they learn more about WISE, the industry and official board procedures. “I am so excited to be a mentor to the first junior board of directors at WISE,“ Phyllis quotes. “This talented group is so diverse and extremely passionate about driving diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for WISE and the store brand industry. They are the next leaders and it’s an honor to work with them.”

The inaugural junior board members are Nabiha Asfar, Topco; Mayra Buenrostro, Daymon; Lisa Eatherton, John B. Sanilfilippo & Sons; Kristen Jones, Massimo Zanetti Beverage; Charlie New, Whole Foods; Kiana Remagni, Bonduelle; and Miranda Sakschek-Treehouse. Each member will serve a two-year term with the option for renewal at the end of the second year. Junior board meetings are held virtually once per month starting in July. In addition to their junior board seat, the members have also been assigned to serve on a WISE committee. Ultimately, these delegates will have the opportunity to transition to the WISE board of directors in the future.

“It is a great privilege to be involved in such a dynamic organization such as WISE,” says Mayra Buenrostro. “Not only do I get the opportunity to network and further my professional development with peers in the private label business, I also get to advocate for diversity and inclusion in our industry.”

Charlie New adds, “The WISE organization is a bedrock of our industry that represents an ever expanding cause for the diverse community within the private label sector. It is not just an honor to be a part of this board, but an opportunity to an impact an organization that I greatly admire. It’s an opportunity that I, and the many members, will pursue with a passionate spirit and a growth mindset. We are so excited to see what comes from this group of people with big ideas!“

Watch for announcements in WISE World and on our website as the Junior Board gets up and running. For more information on the WISE junior board, please contact Phyllis Johnson at Phyllis.johnson@catalina.com.

WISE Selects DEI Collaborator

WISE Selects DEI Collaborator ExecuInsight for 2021 Partnership

The WISE Board of Directors has selected ExecuInsight as its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) collaborator for 2021. With a client list that includes Nestle and J.M. Smucker, ExecuInsight has developed a program tailored to WISE that addresses a broader definition of diversity and provides important resources for our members that are also championing workplace diversity.

“During the last year and a half, the WISE Board of Directors took a deep look at where we’ve been and what impact we could make moving ahead,” notes WISE Chairperson Jen Linke, Federated Group. “We want to be a catalyst for true diversity initiatives, and most importantly, a reliable resource for the individuals and companies in our membership. Many of our member companies, especially the small and medium-sized ones, don’t have a dedicated Diversity and Inclusion department or director. WISE would like to be where they can turn to for good information in supporting their DEI goals.”

The collaboration with ExecuInsight will bring WISE partner companies more content, more innovation and more leadership for DEI education & training. The WISE customized DEI program is designed to be simple to engage with and this initiative includes 3 tracks: 1) Human Resource Team Track – a way for companies to attract and retain diverse talent, 2) Leadership Track – how to lead and manage diverse teams, and 3) Individual Contributor Track – inform and educate individual employees.

“ExecuInsight LLC is excited to be partnering with WISE to bring focused attention to the opportunities around diversity, equity and inclusion in the store brand industry,” says Michele Hanson, CEO of ExecuInsight. “We see this effort as a ground breaking initiative that will combine best practices and action learning solutions to individuals at all levels within WISE’s Partnership base.”

There’s no better time to join WISE. These new resources and services will only be offered to WISE partner companies and their members that are currently enrolled in WISE. The information will be offered at no additional cost. If you are unsure about your membership status with WISE, please be sure to reach out to membership@womeninstorebrands.com so you don’t miss out on these wonderful new offerings from WISE and ExecuInsight.