The Top Women in Grocery Tech in 2020
RIS sister publication Progressive Grocer’s “2020 Top Women in Grocery” once again rounds up a community of extraordinary women — this year, 350 to be exact.
In addition, PG has named Susan Morris of Albertsons Cos. its 2020 Retail Trailblazer and Judi Kletz of Procter & Gamble its CPG Trailblazer, along with the remaining honorees across three categories: Senior-Level Executives,Rising Stars and Store Managers.
This year’s honorees will be recognized at the 2020 Top Women in Grocery Gala and Celebration, Nov. 4-5 in Orlando, FL.
While all of these women make the grocery industry what it is and are taking it to the next level, RIS breaks out 10 Top Women in Grocery Technology from the list. These women are making use of today’s cutting-edge retail tech to drive the industry forward. Click here for the full list.
10 TOP WOMEN IN GROCERY TECHNOLOGY
Senior-Level Executives
MELISSA FULMORE-HARDWICK
VP, IT Enterprise Applications, Acosta
Fulmore-Hardwick led the planning, design and architecture of enterprise back-office platforms for the company’s 30,000-plus employees. She was at the helm of transformation to a common vertical infrastructure and the migration to a cloud platform, which eliminated more than 75 back-office systems, improved communications between systems and moved more than 18,000 users in an ERP transformation.
HEATHER GEORGE
SVP Brand, Lowes Foods
Under George’s leadership, Lowes Foods experienced industry-leading same-store sales that were among the highest in the industry. She guided her team through the implementation of new go-to-market strategies for digital marketing and social media initiatives, and the deployment of new shopper marketing efforts to grow Lowes’ business with its consumer packaged goods partners by maximizing ROIs and total sales.
KATIE HOTZE
Founder and CEO, Grocery Shopii
Hotze created a design for a tech offering that allows shoppers to use recipes to fill their carts online and source those ingredients directly from their local grocer’s shelves; the endeavor won Best Technology Application in PG’s Total Meal Solutions contest. She helped Grocery Shopii earn an Inno On Fire award from America Inno for shaping the company’s approach to solving the 74% cart abandonment rate.
RAMIYA IYER
Group VP, Digital and Data Applications, Albertsons Cos.
Iyer led the technology platforms for all digital channels and all of the enterprise data platforms at Albertsons, overseeing an operating and capital budget of approximately $100 million a year. She headed the redesign and implementation of all Albertsons digital properties, increasing customer engagement by double digits in the markets where the projects were deployed.
JODY KALMBACH
Group VP, Product Experience,
The Kroger Co./Technology and Digital
Kalmbach worked with the technology and digital team to become a product-led organization to best serve customers and the business. She led the initiative to unite customers’ separate, disconnected experiences, working with such Kroger partners as Ocado and Nuro to create a seamless customer experience and drive customer growth.
Rising Stars
JACKIE ADAMS
Director of HR Analytics, Meijer
Adams led a $7 million technology implementation across Meijer’s finance, human resources and information technology departments, delivering it on time and on budget. She consolidated 26 separate HR IT applications into a single solution for all 70,000 associates on the same day, incredibly without any major disruptions to the business.
VERONICA BYKIN
IT Director, Digital CX Engineering, Albertsons Cos.
With five reporting teams, Bykin headed up engineering groups responsible for digital customer experience, digital analytics, test and target, and other company-wide web initiatives. In less than a year, she built a team supporting the company’s web platform that has reduced consulting costs and brought technical skills in house.
SEBRON HURLBURT
Senior Merchandise Planner, 99 Cents Only Stores LLC
Hurlburt improved process efficiencies for ad hoc reporting, data analysis, store and distribution center inventory management, merchandise financial-planning tools, and more. She was also a key leader on the strategic business team that transformed how the company forecasts product demand and replenishment, creating a large cross-functioning platform to roll out a centralized inventory optimization strategy.
LUBNA LASNE
Technical Project Manager, Albertsons Cos.
Lasne was a key influencer in revamping the Albertsons digital grocery e-commerce checkout experience. She was instrumental in delivering a new e-commerce platform built on modern cloud-native patterns, start to finish, within 10 months, ensuring that it was ready for the holiday season.
Store managers
ALLISON HAGEDORN-ZIEGLER
Store Director, Cub Foods Uptown, Minneapolis
Hagedorn-Ziegler operated Cub Foods’ leading store in e-commerce, her percentage of e-commerce sales to total sales was the chain’s highest, and her location was among the banner’s top-performing stores in the area of customer satisfaction in e-commerce.
