Arlington, VA, 2016-Oct-21 — /EPR Retail News/ — The National Grocers Association (NGA) today announced the appointment of David Ochs, Senior Vice President Sales, East of KeHE Distributors, LLC and Jeff Strack, President and CEO of Strack & Van Til, LLC, to fill recent vacancies on its Board of Directors. Additionally, the organization named Mike Stigers, Executive Vice President and President, Wholesale and Supply Chain Services, SUPERVALU to serve on the Board of Directors Executive Committee.
David Ochs is the Senior Vice President Sales, East at KeHE Distributors, one of the oldest and most respected natural, specialty and organic food distributors in North America. He serves as a key member of KeHE’s East leadership team and is responsible for developing and implementing the sales strategy in this region. With a background in both operations and sales, David has more than twenty years’ experience in the food industry in roles with leadership responsibility in operations, finance, human resources, growth and customer service. Before joining KeHE in his current role, David was the Vice President Sales, Higher Education at Aramark Corporation. He was the senior sales leader responsible for this $3 billion USD division and led the entire sales team in the United States and Canada.
Jeff Strack is the President and CEO of Strack & Van Til, LLC, which operates 37 supermarkets in Northwest Indiana and the Chicagoland Area. With over 25 years of experience rooted in Strack & Van Til’s history, Jeff started his career part-time during grade school as a bagger and worked in almost every department in the stores. He has held several key leadership roles including Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Strategy Officer and contributed to the success and growth of the brands from 10 to 37 stores with almost 5,000 Associates.
Mike Stigers serves as president of wholesale and supply chain services for SUPERVALU. In this role, he oversees the company’s relationship with approximately 1,900 independent retail grocery stores across the United States. He is also responsible for SUPERVALU’s logistics, procurement, and transportation operations as well as third-party logistics.
Stigers began his grocery career in 1974 as a part-time courtesy clerk at Safeway. During the next 14 years, he took on managerial positions of increasing responsibility before joining Jons Markets, an independent retailer based in Los Angeles. During the 1990s, he expanded his scope of experience by working for retail technology companies. He joined PW Supermarkets of San Jose, Calif., in 1999 as director of Operations. Stigers served in executive roles in operations and merchandising and was promoted to senior vice president and chief operating officer in 2003. He subsequently became chief executive officer of the independent retailer. He has also worked on the vendor side of the grocery industry for BASS, Inc., a retail automation software company, and for Sterilox Fresh, a food safety company, as regional vice president.
Stigers joined SUPERVALU in 2011, as president of Shaw’s/Star Market grocery stores in New England prior to the company’s sale of those stores in 2013. He then went on to lead SUPERVALU’s Northern region in Hopkins, Minn., before being named president of CUB Foods in March 2014.
“Each these individuals have a great deal of expertise and are recognized as leaders in the food retailing industry,” said Peter J. Larkin, president and CEO of NGA. “We are pleased to welcome them to the Board and I look forward to working with them as we develop future strategies to advance NGA and the independent supermarket industry.”
The Board of Directors assists the organization through developing, governing and supporting the mission, vision, and agenda of NGA. The new appointments were made during NGA’s Fall Leadership Meetings, held in Chicago from October 4-7, 2016.
Media inquiries: Please email communications@nationalgrocers.org
SOURCE: National Grocers Association