Sustainable Store Brands

Erik Petrovskis 
Director of Environmental Compliance and Sustainability at Meijer

At Meijer, Erik is responsible for due diligence, remediation, compliance, and environmental sustainability. Erik leads Meijer’s efforts in carbon reduction, food waste reduction, circular economy, and Great Lakes stewardship. He holds a PhD in environmental engineering from The University of Michigan and is a licensed Professional Engineer. He also served as a Lecturer at the University of Michigan, teaching water and wastewater engineering, as well as sustainable engineering principles. Erik has 20 years of experience as an environmental consultant.

Joan Driggs
Vice President of Content and Thought Leadership, Information Resources Inc.

Joan attributes curiosity as key to her 30-plus year career as a results-driven market researcher, CPG trade journalist and thought leader. Joan’s thought leadership work regularly serves as a foundation from which IRI teams develop innovative, holistic solutions for clients, and is regularly showcased during top-to-top client meetings, industry conferences and webinars, media, academic and custom studies. 

Randi Kronthal-Sacco 
Senior Scholar at the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business

Randi is a a Senior Scholar at the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business. Ms. Kronthal-Sacco leads CSB’s research in the areas of marketing and brands including the Sustainable Market Share Index™ and is responsible for corporate outreach.

With over 25 years of packaged goods and pharmaceutical experience, Ms. Kronthal-Sacco most recently was the Chief Marketing Officer at Rodan + Fields®. Ms. Kronthal-Sacco spent over 18 years as a Senior Executive at Johnson & Johnson®, where she served as Worldwide Vice President on two of the company’s most important franchises, Johnson’s Baby and Women’s Health. Prior to her role at Johnson & Johnson, Ms. Kronthal-Sacco served in various product management capacities for 8 years at Kraft Foods including Director, Desserts Division. 

James Butcher
CEO at Supply Pilot

Supply Pilot works with Walmart, Albertsons, Wakefern, Walgreens and other large brands to help them become more sustainable. Passionate about supplier collaboration, James has championed the three pillars of supplier engagement –communication, accountability and support, to deliver a practical and cost-effective solution –the Supply Pilot platform -that enables brands to deliver transformational change within the supply chain.  A degree engineer with origins in manufacturing and factory automation, James brings his first-hand knowledge of working with retailers such as Asda, Tesco and M&S to spotlight the disconnect between retailers and their first-tier suppliers. What he had seen first-hand in the product lifecycle –breakdown in communication, leading to time and costly production delays –helped spark a passion in James around supplier engagement that has survived nigh on two decades.

Deena Pitzele
Partner at The Partnering Group Partner

Deena works with both manufacturers and retailers in Private Label and Foodservice industries through expertise in strategic growth and transformation, customer development, and organizational design and requirements for market activation.

She has worked on development and commercialization of Private Label brands and proprietary products for grocery, club, limited assortment, national restaurant chain accounts and foodservice broadline distributors. Recent work includes Sam’s, Kroger, Lidl, Chipotle, Panera, Sysco, US Foods, and Markon.  The work includes leadership from insight to commercialization through both a consumer and customer centric view of the business.

Prathibha Rajashekhar 
Senior Vice President, Sourcing and Private Brands for Sam’s Club

Sam’s Club is a member – only warehouse club.  Her Walmart career began in 2011 with Information Technology and she has supported multiple parts of the business including Global Shared Services.  Supply Chain and Global People.  In May of 2018 she transitioned to Sam’s Club and served as the Vice President for the Baby, Health and Beauty and Over - the-Counter business.  In 2020 she was asked to lead the Private Brands and Global Sourcing teams.  Since then, the team has reintroduced the Member’s Mark brand to be a purpose driven and focused on regeneration and quality.

Prathibha earned an MBA from Duke and a master’s in computer science from the University of Mysore in India.  She’s a strong believer that learning is key to growth and always focused on “understanding the why”

Prathibha servers on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Club of Benton County and enjoys spending her time traveling and modifying recipes to healthier versions with her daughter.

Abby Ayers
Senior Director of Retail Partnerships at Fair Trade USA

Abby Ayers joined Fair Trade USA in 2016 and serves as the Senior Director of Retail Partnerships. In this capacity, she works with Fair Trade’s retail partners to create actionable plans to make and get credit for Fair Trade commitments and celebrate those with associates, investors, and customers. Abby supports retailers in developing private brand programs, creating sustainability goals and commitments, sourcing certified national brands, and promoting these items to drive business results.

At Fair Trade she supports over 80 retailers across 13 Channels. Abby brings 10+ years of retail experience and is known as a brand Launcher. Prior to Fair Trade USA, she supported private brand development at Kroger, supporting the launch of the Simple Truth Organic brand- the largest organic brand in the world, and HemisFares - an ultra-premium import brand as well as the Sunless Inc. skincare line, Evolv Sunless.  Abby earned a bachelor’s degree in International Business and Strategic Communication from the Ohio State University, as well as an Executive MBA from Cleveland State University. She has been named one of Progressive Grocer’s inaugural GenNext Award winners and a Women of Influence in the Food Industry.

Jac Ross, Sprouts Farmers Market
Vice President, Our Brands at Sprouts Farmers Market

Jac joined Sprouts Farmers Market in May 2021 as Vice President of Our Brands, where she is focused on bringing exclusive and innovative private label products to the fast-growing grocer’s base of shoppers who are enthusiastic about health and wellness. She has extensive experience within the Private Label industry across product development, innovation, manufacturing and retailing in the U.S., where she has resided for over seven years, and 20 years within Europe and the U.K. for retailers including Ahold Delhaize, Unilever, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s.

Bill Smith
Director of Own Brands at Tops Markets LLC

Bill is in constant pursuit of ways to innovate and improve the grocer’s portfolio of Own Brands. He's involved in sourcing, product development/ package design, merchandising, inventory control/supply, and overall item management throughout Tops Markets LLC private label portfolio in both Fresh and Center store departments. Bill is a member of PLMA's Retail Board and holds a BA from Canisius College in Buffalo NY where he resides.

Angelo Campanella
Vice President US Channel Development at Club Coffee

Angelo has built a reputation as a customer-centric, brand and sales innovator with a deep understanding of the private label space. He has worked with leading US retailers and brands to bring innovative sustainable products to life while unlocking sales and profit growth. As the VP of US Channel Development at Club Coffee, and part of the Executive Leadership Team, Angelo is playing a key role in bringing the company’s solutions to drive sustainable growth. With Club Coffee’s launch of the world’s first BPI certified 100% compostable coffee pod, recyclable paper-based roast and ground coffee packaging, and compostable espresso capsules, Angelo and Club Coffee are building partnerships with a diverse array of innovative coffee brands across North America. Angelo holds a BA in Finance and Accounting from Loyola University of Chicago and lives in the Chicago area.

Riccarda Eickenberg
Marketing Coordinator, Shorr Packaging, Aurora IL