PLMA will hold its Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference March 22-24 and the program will feature a wide range of speakers and topics. The conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando.
The event is themed "What Does Winning Look Like for Store Brands?," reflecting the expanding role store brands play in U.S. retailing, particularly in the wake of 2022's record-breaking, double-digit sales increases.
The keynote speaker is Juan De Paoli, vice president of Our Brands at the Kroger Co., who will take the stage at the breakfast session on Friday, March 24.
De Paoli’s 20-plus years of experience is responsible for driving Kroger's private label vision, strategy and program development and enhance the company’s brand equity, strategic positioning, revenue, and profit across all food, household, pet, and personal care products.
New inductees into PLMA’s Private Label Hall of Fame will be honored on Wednesday night, when members of the Class of 2023 will be revealed.
A blue-ribbon panel of retailers and industry experts titled "Store Brands' New World: Meeting the challenges and opportunities of uncertain economic times" will be held on Friday morning.
The panel will consist of Brooke Rice, Sr. Director, Southeastern Grocers; Tom Becker, Director, Proprietary Brands-US at Circle K; Jorge Flores, Executive Director, Product Development & Innovation- Store Brands at CVS Health; Christina Reyes, Senior Manager Client Insights, SPINS; Joe Mollica II, President, LNK International and Mark Gilliand, VP, Sales & Marketing, Old Dutch Mustard Co. The moderator will be Michael Sansolo, president, Sansolo Solutions LLC, and former SVP at FMI.
The conference will also include other industry experts including:
* Jim Dillard III, Executive Vice President and President, Consumer Healthcare Americas, Perrigo plc, formerly a top executive at Altria Group, Inc., will discuss "Winning With Self-Care Brands."
* Judy Clark, CEO of Fresh from Texas, a high-quality, value-added fresh produce solutions provider, who will offer a "Fresh Spin on Winning in Store Brands." With retailers focusing on the perimeter and winning the first twenty steps into the store, Clark will highlight the role of store brands on the fresh produce side.
* Roger Davidson, CEO, Oakton Advisory Group, an expert on food trends with 30 years’ experience in merchandising, marketing, operations and global sourcing at Walmart, Wild Oats, SUPERVALU, Ahold USA and HEB, whose topic is "Winning Through Innovation, Infrastructure & Sourcing."
* Kevin Ryan, Founder and CEO, Malachite Strategy and Research, a retail and foodservice-focused insights and innovation agency and former executive at Amazon and General Mills, who will discuss "Beyond the Horizon: Future Forces Impacting Private Label."
* Lauren McNamara, VP and Assistant GM, Plant Based Food & Beverage; and Jessica Krautkremer, VP, Sales, both of SunOpta, Inc., a multinational food and mineral company, headquartered in Minneapolis, that is integrated from seed through packaged products and specializes in the sourcing, processing and packaging of organic, conventional and non-GMO food, will speak on "Winning with Store Brands in Food and Beverage."
A full schedule of events can be found at plma.com To register for the conference please click here or for additional information, contact Carleen Foster at conferences@plma.com