Thursday, November 13, 2025
We are excited to bring you what promises to be another insightful and uplifting Annual Meeting!
Join us for an engaging discussion with Laysha Ward, an accomplished C-suite executive with 32+ years of leadership experience at Target. As a purpose-driven leader, she boasts a nationally recognized track record of success in delivering results for consumer-facing brands. From rural roots to the C-suite, Ward advanced from a frontline team member on the sales floor to a prominent executive role in her three decades at Target. She has remained deeply connected to her origins in rural Indiana, championing the ethos that true success is measured by the equitable opportunities we create for everyone. For Ward, leading with meaning is focused on progress over perfection.
Of course, no WISE annual meeting would have been complete without recognizing our talented Top Women in Store Brands Award winners. These amazing women were nominated by their peers and truly helped shape the private brands industry.
The WISE Board of Directors and Annual Meeting sponsors and volunteers look forward to seeing you at this year’s Annual Meeting in November!
THANK YOU TO OUR EVENT SPONSORS!
More About the Annual Meeting
The WISE Annual Meeting, held each November, has historically coincided with the opening day of the Private Label Manufacturers Association’s (PLMA) US Private Label Trade Show. Since the inception of the organization in 2013, each year’s event features a Keynote speaker focusing on diversity, leadership and/or the retail industry. In addition, the WISE annual event showcases Top Women in Store Brands honorees selected for their achievements in eight categories from among the nation’s leading store brand retailers, manufacturers, brokers, and suppliers. The recognition program is co-sponsored by WISE and Deerfield, Illinois-based EnsembleIQ, publishers of Store Brands magazine.
Top Women in Store Brands (TWISB)
Store Brands magazine and Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence™ (WISE) created, in 2013, The Top Women in Store Brands honors to recognize women executives, in the store brand industry, who bring a passion for store brands to their day-to-day activities. The awards cover functional expertise areas (Supply Chain/Procurement, R&D/QA, Operations, HR, Sales and Marketing/Merchandising), as well as three achievement areas not linked to a specific functional expertise area (Sparkplug, Innovation and Lifetime Achievement).
To select TWISB honorees, each spring in-depth nominations from across the store brand industry are solicited. The submissions are carefully evaluated and reviewed to determine each year’s award recipients. The cross functional committee ultimately selected one honoree for each category.
TWISB Award honorees are featured, in a multi-page story within the October issue of Store Brands magazine. The TWISB Awards are presented during the WISE Annual Meeting.