National award recognizes outstanding female leaders in grocery industry

Editor’s note: Headshots of SpartanNash winners and the Top Women in Grocery logo can be downloaded at: spartannash.egnyte.com/fl/x2lrWtohe4

Progressive Grocer today honored 12 SpartanNash (Nasdaq: SPTN) Associates as part of its nationwide list of Top Women in Grocery, recognizing the integral role women play across all segments of the food retail and grocery industries. Since 2012, 82 SpartanNash Associates have been recognized by Progressive Grocer as TWIG winners.

Each honoree in the Top Women in Grocery’s class of 2021 went above and beyond to meet the needs of shoppers and Associates during the COVID-19 pandemic while achieving strong business results.

“Our People First culture celebrates and recognizes excellence, and we are proud to see these 12 SpartanNash Associates get the recognition they deserve from Progressive Grocer as well,” President and CEO Tony Sarsam said. “Each of them delivered impressive results despite – and in some cases because of – the challenges and obstacles they faced in 2020. We applaud the impact they’ve made at SpartanNash, within our industry and throughout our local communities.”

The 12 SpartanNash Associates named 2021 Top Women in Grocery are:

Senior-Level Executives:

• Yvonne Trupiano, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
• Amy McClellan, VP, Fresh Merchandising (Grand Rapids, Mich.)

Rising Stars:

• Chilain Backman, Manager, Accounts Payable, MDV (Norfolk, Va.)
• Mary Brush, Manager, Account Sales (Saginaw, Mich.)
• Megan Bryant, HR Director, Corporate (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
• Darlene Collins, Inventory Manager, MDV (Norfolk, Va.)
• Sharon Fleener, Director, Export Services & QA, MDV (Norfolk, Va.)
• Jennie Garbarek, Manager, Floral Merchandising (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
• Teona Goebel, HR Business Partner II (Columbus, Ga.)
• Audra Ladronka, Manager, Category Administration (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
• Julie Morales, Manager, Pharmacy (Grand Rapids, Mich.)

Store Manager:

• Tammy Sluck, Family Fare (Grayling, Mich.)

Trupiano is a three-time Top Women in Grocery honoree (2018, 2020 and 2021), while Backman, Fleener and Sluck have each been honored twice.

As part of its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, SpartanNash strives to increase the representation and promotion of veterans, women and other minority Associates across the organization. In 2020, 44% of new hires and 52% of all promotions were women. In addition, SpartanNash has been named a Winning Company by 2020 Women on Boards since 2011. The designation recognizes SpartanNash for championing board diversity by having 20% or more of its board seats held by women.

Through its Top Women in Grocery award, Progressive Grocer shines a national spotlight on many dynamic leaders from some of the most admired organizations in the U.S. supermarket business. All honorees will be recognized during Progressive Grocer’s Grocery Industry Week, taking place Nov. 1-4 in Orlando, Fla. The full list of 2021 Top Women in Grocery will be included in the June edition of Progressive Grocer.

About SpartanNash

SpartanNash (Nasdaq: SPTN) is a Fortune 400 company whose core businesses include distributing grocery products to a diverse group of independent and chain retailers, its corporate-owned retail stores and U.S. military commissaries and exchanges; as well as operating a premier fresh produce distribution network. SpartanNash serves customer locations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Europe, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Djibouti. SpartanNash currently operates 150 supermarkets, primarily under the banners of Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets, D&W Fresh Market, VG’s Grocery and Dan’s Supermarket. Through its MDV military division, SpartanNash is a leading distributor of grocery products to U.S. military commissaries.

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