RISING STARS
Giddy Abboud
Innovation Manager, Stop & Shop
Abboud delivered multiple technology-focused pilots to improve the customer shopping experience, including Scan It! mobile pay, beer pairing and an item-locator kiosk; she additionally signed the first commercial pilot agreement with Robomart to offer on-demand, self-driving stores. She drafted Stop & Shop’s Customer Centric Ecosystem Vision and developed key health innovation partnerships. Abboud represented Stop & Shop at the MIT Supply Chain Roundtable on Retail Strategy and was a panelist at the Supply Chain Innovation Night at Venture Cafe; she also volunteered with organizations focusing on kids.
Randi Laflamme Category Manager of Beverage, Stop & Shop
Laflamme’s team outpaced total store sales growth throughout 2018; her efforts culminated in the direct store delivery beverage team leading raw dollar growth among all category groups within Stop & Shop. Well known for her people skills, she assimilated a new team on the beverage desk, including many associates who were completely new to the merchandising organization. Laflamme helped develop and teach a ground-up training program for all merchandising associates; the program was a key asset in associate development across the entire Stop & Shop merchandising organization.
COVER FEATURE
2019 Top Women in Grocery Jacqui Buckley Director of Store Deployment and Change Management, Stop & Shop
Buckley helped identify and deliver $75 million in savings initiatives across the Stop & Shop brand, and she drove and supported the store communications team and the rollout of Office 365. During a time of transition, she took on a special assignment in merchandising and assisted with new-hire training. A graduate of the Network of Executive Women Executive MBA certification through Kellogg University, Buckley volunteers regularly in her spare time at a local food bank and with Neighbor to Neighbor, a program providing food and meals for families in need.
Christine McCormack
Category ManagerFrozen, Stop & Shop
During a time of change at Stop & Shop, McCormack led the frozen category to deliver on profit metrics and to exceed bottom-line numbers. With a new structure and team in place, she focused on people development, helping to train new category analysts and assistant store managers, and sharing best practices. McCormack and her husband annually support a group of Special Olympians from western Massachusetts by purchasing dinner for all of the coaches and athletes on the first night of the summer games; she also organizes a movie event for a learning-disabled group.
Gianna Farrell Produce/Floral Specialist, Stop & Shop
When a major competitor entered her district, Farrell built a strategic plan to impact positive sales; the produce and floral departments subsequently ended the year with significant sales increases versus the prior year.
Heidy Jodice
Meat and Seafood Specialist, Stop & Shop
Jodice delivered key metrics and exceeded goals within the meat and seafood department, including exceptional sanitation scores and sales.
Valentine’s Day sales in her district exceeded those in other Northeast markets.
She set the standards for the brand’s seafood road shows, which are merchandising displays geared toward increasing sales in both meat and seafood.
Farrell led fundraising events for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign; for the past three years, she’s been a mentor for the Big Brothers/ Big Sisters of Rhode Island; and she regularly mentors other associates at the company to help develop their skills to enable career advancement.
In a time of need, Jodice took the initiative to step in and oversee 130 locations for her supervisor on a temporary basis, and during that time, she drove item sales that were typically negative in seven districts; she additionally achieved the highest sales within the market in the scallop category.
Francesca Palmiero
Anne Souza
Finance Manager, Stop & Shop
Palmiero successfully led the financial support for Stop & Shop’s first market renewal, in the the Hartford, Conn., market. She fostered relationships with a cross-functional team, which resulted in working discussions, collaboration and continuous dialogue; the team developed a focused stores program in each district, and by year’s end, profitability had increased in six out of eight districts. Palmiero helped create and execute a money management training game used in the associate store manager development process; she’s also an adjunct professor at Fordham University, teaching financial modeling.
Front End Specialist, Stop & Shop
Responsible for all stores in Stop & Shop’s District 311, Souza worked with the leadership teams from operations, asset protection and center store to build a comprehensive plan toward reducing shrink in the stores; in addition, she created training documentation for the front end. To help reduce cash loss, she partnered with the cash office specialists and created a training document for stores to use on a weekly basis. Souza implemented a cashier “closing” policy that thanks customers for choosing Stop & Shop; the initiative helped improve cashier friendliness results.
PROGRESSIVE GROCER June 2019
107