LEADERS
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Retail Edward N. Basha III
Bruce Halle
Basha leads Bashas’ Family of Stores – the family-owned grocer that operates Bashas’, Food City, AJ’s Fine Foods, Sportsman’s Fine Wines & Spirits, Eddie’s Country Store, and Bashas’ Diné supermarkets. He is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of more than 120 grocery stores and more than 8,000 employees. Biggest challenge: “The biggest obstacle I’ve faced in business was having to file for Chapter 11 protection. It was overcome by working with very competent and capable people, and trying to do the right thing no matter what the consequences.” Best advice to offer: “The best business advice I could offer is to be open to change, and be able to understand and learn from both traditional and nontraditional competitors.” Surprising fact: “I’ve been told I’m my father’s (Eddie Basha Jr.) son in that I have a similar sense of humor.”
Halle opened a tire store in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1961 and has grown Scottsdale-based Discount Tire into a retail giant, with more than 800 locations. As of September 2012, he is the 92nd richest person in the United States and richest in Arizona, with an estimated wealth of $4 billion. Best advice to offer: “It’s sometimes better to be lucky than smart, because you’re never that smart. Be fair, be truthful, work hard, be there on time, and help people.” Greatest accomplishment: “Through the Bruce T. Halle Family Foundation, Halle has made charitable donations to the Diane Halle Center for Family Justice at ASU; the Children First Academy, the nation’s largest school for homeless children; and countless other charities.” Surprising fact: “My high school academic record would make you think I wasn’t smart enough.”
President and CEO, chairman of the board Bashas’ Family of Stores bashas.com
Founder and chairman Discount Tire discounttire.com
David Lenhardt CEO PetSmart petsmart.com
Jon Flora
President of Fry’s Division The Kroger Company kroger.com Flora has been president of Fry’s Food Stores of Arizona since 2007. During Flora’s tenure, he has helped Kroger become Arizona’s third-largest employer with more than 18,000 employees. During his 42-year career with Kroger, Flora, has served in a variety of leadership positions. He successfully guided and directed several Kroger divisions as a senior vice president. Prior to that, Flora served as the president of the company’s Great Lakes division, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. He began his career in 1971 with the Company’s Dillon stores. Fry’s Food & Drug Stores, Inc., is a chain of supermarkets that has a major presence in Arizona. The 121 Fry’s Food Stores service more than one million households per week. Fry’s also operates under the banner of Fry’s Marketplace, a chain of multidepartment stores.
Lenhardt joined PetSmart in October 2000 and was became executive vice president in 2011, assuming additional responsibility for Information Systems. He was appointed president and chief operating officer in January 2012. In June 2013, he was named chief executive officer. From 1996 to 2000, Lenhardt was with Bain & Company, Inc where he led consulting teams for retail, technology and e-commerce clients. Prior to that, he worked in the corporate finance and Latin American groups of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc.’s investment banking division. Lenhardt is on the board of Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Lenhardt graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1991. He earned a MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth in 1996.
Impact Players Don Foster
David Kimmerle
As Macerich’s top-ranked Arizona executive, Foster leads design and planning and the construction and tenant coordination teams for Macerich’s development pipeline nationwide.
Kimmerle is married to the daughter of the dealership’s late founder, Don Sanderson, who founded the dealership in 1955. After Sanderson’s death in 1985, Kimmerle took over as CEO.
Senior vice president of design and construction Macerich macerich.com
148 AZ BUSINESS LEADERS 2013
Owner and CEO Sanderson Ford sandersonford.com
VOICES OF LEADERSHIP