It was the 1970s when Doug was hired at Trader Joe’s as a buyer for what was then a modest-size chain selling only branded products. He soon convinced Trader Joe’s namesake Joe Coulombe – a past Hall of Fame inductee himself – that a unique line of destination products could be key to the chain’s controlling its own destiny. As the company scaled for growth, Doug put in place a buying strategy that would leverage Trader Joe’s own brands to gain a cult following and, eventually, propel the chain’s national expansion under Doug’s leadership as President of Trader Joe’s East from 1995 through 2006 and as president of Trader Joe’s Co. from 2006 through 2008. Trader Joe’s and the unique character with which the company infuses the products created to carry the Trader Joe’s brand have become so strategically intertwined as to be indistinguishable, giving the private label industry one of its most remarkable success stories.