Private brand pioneers

Established in 2006, the Private Label Hall of Fame program honors retailer and supplier executives who have made outstanding contributions to advance innovation and growth within the private label arena. Each year, the New York-based Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA) and Store Brands solicit nominations for the program from a wide range of executives involved in the manufacturing, marketing and/or distribution of store brand goods. This year, Store Brands and the PLMA are pleased to add six industry overachievers to the list of inductees.

The 2016 Private Label Hall of Fame inductees are profiled in the pages that follow. They also will be honored at the Hall of Fame Breakfast on March 19, which will take place during the PLMAs Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference, slated for March 17–20 at the Trump National Doral hotel in Miami.

Selection criteria

Qualified nominees for the Private Label Hall of Fame are career private label professionals who have contributed to the growth of store brands in the consumer marketplace in one or more of the following ways:

• Have served as a leader in store brand development and innovation.
• Have advanced the growth of store brands through the creative use of marketing, merchandising and promotions.
• Have contributed significantly to store brand technology in terms of manufacturing, packaging, label design and/or quality assurance.
• Have served as a champion of store brands within their own companies, business communities and the consumer marketplace.

2016 Private Label Hall of Fame Inductees

• Ed Crenshaw, Publix Super Markets
• Thomas Ewing T. Marzetti Co.
• Philip Fitzell, Exclusive Brands
• Mayro Kanning The Kroger Co.
• Allan Noddle, Ahold USA
• Leonard Pearlstein, Confab Inc.

Ed Crenshaw

A strong retail leader

Ed Crenshaw joined Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix Super Markets — the company his grandfather founded — in 1974, starting as a stock clerk in a Lake Wales, Fla., store. Over the years, he gained experience in all areas of store operations, Publix says.

Crenshaw was promoted to director of retail operations for the Lakeland Division in 1984. In 1990, he became vice president of the Lakeland Division and was elected to the board of directors. In 1991, Crenshaw moved to Atlanta to start the Atlanta Division as division vice president.

Crenshaw was promoted to executive vice president of retail in 1994 and to president in 1996, Publix says. He was named CEO in 2008.

During Crenshaw’s 42 years with the company, Publix has increased its store count from a couple hundred stores to more than 1,000 in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina. And the company has earned numerous awards in recent years — thanks to, at least in part, Crenshaw’s leadership. For example, Publix has been on FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list every year since 1998, and was counted among the country’s favorite supermarkets by Marketforce.com in 2014 and 2015.

A private brand champion

Crenshaw has also made his mark on Publix’s product assortment, including those products in the retailer’s well-respected private brand program, which includes brands such as Publix, Publix Premium and Publix GreenWise brands.

“Ed has been instrumental in providing our Publix customers with a wide selection of national [and] regional products, as well as private label products,” explains Maria Brous, director of media and community relations for Publix. “More recently, he’s focused on the health and wellness attributes of our Publix GreenWise products and challenged our teams to bring forward more assortments of products with clean labels, simple ingredients and less-processed foods.”

A lasting legacy

In January, Crenshaw announced his plans to retire as CEO of Publix on April 30. But his contributions to Publix inside and outside the private brand arena will not be forgotten.

In the press release announcing Crenshaw’s retirement, Charlie Jenkins Jr., Publix’s chairman, had high praise for the departing CEO.

“He’s been a strong leader keenly focused on our continued growth in current and new markets and committed to the development and promotion of our associates,” he said. “He’s provided invaluable insights to our industry, serving on numerous boards.”

Crenshaw also believes strongly in community service. Included among the many organizations with which he has served are the Kidney Foundation of Central Florida, the Central Florida Speech and Hearing Center, the Polk County Museum of Art, the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce, and more.

“He has given unselfishly of himself — time and talents — to support both business and community needs,” Brous says.

Crenshaw also has been a strong supporter and mentor of Publix’s associates, she adds.

“He’s empowered associates to take pride in company ownership and owning their part in the company’s overall success,” Brous stresses. “He’s challenged our managers to know their business, customers and products and to train and develop their associates. Ed inspires those around him with his passion for the business and his compassion for the people.”

Thomas Ewing

The ultimate sales professional

Thomas Ewing, director, channel businesses for Columbus, Ohio-based T. Marzetti Co., got his start in the private brand business as a private label sales manager for Borden Food Corp., after holding positions with Procter & Gamble and Frito-Lay. During his 12 years with Borden, he says he was promoted to national sales manager, custom products and then to national sales manager, grocery products.

Ewing says he also became active in the PLMA during his time at Borden, beginning in 1985. In 1988, he began serving on the PLMA board; he served as chairman of the board in 1994 and 1995. He also represented the private label industry on several joint industry task forces, including the Category Management Work Group of the Efficient Consumer Response Initiative.

Following a stint with Canada’s E.D. Smith & Sons, where he was tasked with developing the company’s U.S. private label and co-pack businesses, Ewing joined T. Marzetti in 1995. And he has contributed significantly to T. Marzetti’s private brand sales for 20-plus years — leading the company’s overall retail private label effort and having responsibility for Walmart, club stores, specialty sales, military sales and international sales.

In tune with his customers

Throughout his career, Ewing says he has developed numerous products, ranging from non-dairy coffee creamer and powdered soft drink mixes to salad dressings and pasta sauce. He has worked on products for almost every U.S. and Canadian retailer and wholesaler having a private brand food and beverage program.

Kent Dell, director of distributor sales for Cargill Cocoa and Chocolate (part of Minneapolis-based Cargill Inc.), has known Ewing for many years and says he’s extremely tuned to his customers and their needs.

“That’s made a successful career for him,” he says. “His experience and years of being immersed in the business have made him one of the most knowledgeable people in store brands today.”

Ernie Grindstaff, vice president of retail sales for T. Marzetti, calls Ewing “the ultimate professional” in his role.

“He strives to do everything the right way,” he says. “And he never quits.… The sale begins when someone says no to him.”

Ewing has delivered to T. Marzetti some “really, really large profitable projects,” Grindstaff adds. And he knows how to train people and move them forward.

“He’s not only a really good leader; he’s a great manager also,” he says. “And there are a lot of people who can’t do both.”

Committed to PLMA

Despite all of his responsibilities and successes within T. Marzetti, Ewing still finds time to be involved in the PLMA. He notes that he has served as chairman of each of the PLMA standing committees over the years and is currently in his fifth term on the PLMA board.

Ewing credits PLMA’s president, Brian Sharoff, for at least some of his success.

“Brian Sharoff recruited me for the PLMA board and then inspired me, challenged me and mentored me throughout my career — and taught me lessons that I use in every organization that I have been involved with. Everyone needs a Brian Sharoff in their life.”

Ewing also gives credit and praise to many of his T. Marzetti colleagues.

“I am lucky to have had the support of my management throughout the years and very talented, dedicated people who work with me and around me to achieve significant levels of success,” Ewing says. “Patrick McSweeney, Bob Blackburn, Kyle Fabing and particularly Lisa Reis have been valuable teammates as we execute our private brand business at Marzetti.”

Philip Fitzell

A publishing pioneer

Although Philip Fitzell began his professional career in 1965 as an editor with ASHRA Journal, a trade publication covering the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning industry, it was in 1979 that he became part of private label history. That’s when he joined the staff of a brand-new monthly publication, Private Label magazine* and, in his words, helped to “recognize, define and document this industry at a time when the term ‘private label’ was either unknown or relegated to a Cinderella role in retailing.”

That same year, working with the magazine staff and with the financial aid of Private Label’s publisher, Fitzell says he helped “to rally support [for], organize and direct the evolution of the Private Label Manufacturers Association,” which had its inaugural meeting in November of 1979 at the Chemist Club in New York.

Five years later, building on the success of Private Label magazine, Fitzell helped to develop Private Label International magazine, a quarterly global publication.

During his 13-year stint on both magazines, Fitzell also notes that he managed to find time to write two textbooks about the private brand industry: Private Labels: Store Brands and Generic Products, published in 1982; and Private Label Marketing in the 1990s, published in 1992.

Branching out on his own

His departure from the publications’ staff definitely did not mark the end of Fitzell’s ties to the private label industry. In 1992, he launched an annual private label directory called the Exclusive Brands Sourcebook. And in 1998, he created Exclusive Brands magazine, a quarterly trade publication, and also penned another private brand-themed textbook, Explosive Growth of Private Labels in North America.

In addition, Fitzell says he built the “Private Label — Exclusive Brands Interchange” website (www.pl-eb.com) around the same time, long before many other companies and organizations even had websites.

In 2003, Fitzell published his fourth private brand-themed textbook, “Private Label Marketing in the 21st Century,” and followed that up with the creation of a free online sourcing database, www.exclusivebrandsourcing.com. In addition to two databases of company listings — one geared toward retailers and wholesalers and the other geared toward manufacturers and service providers — the site features industry news, he notes.

A new chapter

In more recent years, Fitzell has been concentrating on fiction writing. In fact, he published his first novel, On the Brink: A Trio of Genres, this past November. Kirkus Media LLC, which reviews works self-published by authors, called the novel “a varied trilogy of beautifully described prose pieces, some more esoteric than others.”

But no matter where his interests take him in the years to come, Fitzell always will be remembered as a publishing pioneer within the private label industry.

“He’s considered to be a statesman of the industry,” says Mark Krakauer, president of Mwk Marketing Inc., Great Neck, N.Y. “He’s a source of excellent information.

“He understands private label from a scholarly point of view — if you’re in the trenches, you don’t see the big picture,” he adds. “He’s a big picture kind of guy.”

*Store Brands purchased Private Label and Private Label International magazines in 2012.

Mayro Kanning

Keeper of quality

Mayro Kanning, manager, sensory services for The Kroger Co., Cincinnati, joined Kroger in 1974 as a food technologist in Kroger’s corporate quality assurance (QA) department. And during her many years with the retailer, she has filled a variety of roles, ranging from QA manager at Kroger’s Memphis bakery to trainer for food safety and lab practices at two new Kroger-run processing plants.

But it’s Kanning’s unwavering dedication to quality on the private brand side that has earned her 2016 Private Label Hall of Fame honors.

Advocate for consistency

Back in the late 1970s, when Kroger was expanding its corporate brand program and “adding new suppliers continually,” Kanning was instrumental in establishing best practices before most people had even heard of the term, according to Nick Hahn, retired director of corporate brands for the retailer.

“She had the benefit of knowing all of the practices and procedures that Kroger had established within its own facilities,” he says, “and she was determined that our own outside suppliers lived by the same rules.… She stood out for establishing that consistency through the supplier base of The Kroger Co.”

Kanning also deserves credit for helping employees involved in the procurement of Kroger brand products understand how own-brand products were evaluated. In the 1990s, she conducted a sensory training session for the team to familiarize them with quality attributes such as taste, aroma, texture and mouthfeel, Hahn says, so they could understand the results from both panels of potential new products and audits of existing products.

“She always has been good at explaining things to people” outside the R&D arena, he notes. “If they understand why it’s not what it needs to be, it’s more palatable.”

Also in the 1990s, Kanning volunteered to coordinate the nutritional labeling data Kroger needed to comply with the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act.

“Her organizational and facilitation skills again were a great benefit in enabling Kroger to accomplish this major task on thousands of products,” Hahn says.

Racking up honors

This isn’t the first time Kanning has been recognized for her outstanding efforts at Kroger. In 2013, she was the very first Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in the Top Women in Store Brands recognition program, a joint program of Store Brands and Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence (WISE).

She has been recognized for accomplishments outside of Kroger’s walls as well. In 2014, the Arthritis Foundation named Kanning, who has rheumatoid arthritis, its national 2014 Walk to Cure Arthritis Adult Honoree.

“Her volunteerism with the Arthritis Foundation’s Ohio River Valley market is extraordinary, and her Arthritis Walk team — Mayro’s Milers — has raised more than $264,000 since 2003,” the foundation wrote about the honor.

Today, Kanning continues to approach her job with enthusiasm and commitment.

“She’s very passionate about what she does, about her role as a sensory manager,” says Payton Pruett, Ph.D., vice president of food safety for Kroger. “From a quality standpoint, Mayro wants to make sure she’s doing everything on her end to make sure that the Kroger products that go to our shelves maintain our reputation for quality.”

That passion hasn’t gone unnoticed. As Pruett notes, Kanning is well respected both inside and outside of Kroger.

Hahn points to a number of other qualities, too, that make Kanning such a standout.

“She’s a true professional; she deals with people very firmly but fairly,” he says. “She’s extremely consistent, persistent and tenacious.”

Kanning’s dedication has played a big role in the quality proposition Kroger’s brands offer today.

“She is the guardian of our quality promise,” Pruett stresses.

Allan Noddle

Champion of private brands

Allan Noddle got his start in the retail industry back in 1965 with Hinky Dinky Supermarkets, a small chain that was based in Omaha, Neb. But he spent most of his subsequent career with Carlisle, Pa.-based Giant Food Stores and Royal Ahold, which acquired Giant Food Stores in 1981 and made the company part of its Ahold USA operations.

In 1988, Noddle was named president and CEO of Ahold USA’ Carlisle, Pa.-based Giant Food Stores division, and in 1997, he became CEO of Ahold USA Support Services. And 1998 found Noddle heading to the Netherlands to become the first American to serve on the corporate executive board for Royal Ahold.

In 2010, Noddle took on a role outside of retail, becoming interim president of Stamford, Conn.-based Daymon Worldwide — which is focused on branding, sourcing and commercializing customized retail solutions with its partners, with an emphasis on private brands. Noddle was in the role for a brief seven months, but remains a Daymon board member, the company notes.

An advocate for strong private brands

Noddle’s role with Daymon seems fitting, given his strong dedication to building strong private brands throughout his career with Ahold USA/Royal Ahold. And that dedication continues today, as Noddle travels to share his private brand knowledge with others.

“As competition in the industry has intensified over the decades, there is no doubt that differentiation and innovation and exclusivity are three important ingredients as to how one retailer is going to distinguish himself from another retailer,” Noddle says. “And other than fresh, the only way to do that in the center store is through an effective, well-focused value-creation private brand program. So I go around the world teaching about private brand.”

Deep understanding

Carla Cooper, former CEO of Daymon Worldwide and a current company board member, calls Noddle’s induction into the Private Label Hall of Fame “well deserved.” She notes he has a deep understanding that to thrive in the long-term, a private brand program needs the commitment and focus of top retailer executives, as well as alignment to corporate strategy.

“Allan has been a lifelong champion of private brands though his early and deep understanding of the relationship between national brands and private brands,” she says. “There has traditionally been a synergistic relationship between the two that very few practitioners fully understood and took advantage of. Allan was one of those people.”

As Cooper explains, Noddle is committed to communicating to others the “science and art of private branding.” And many retailers, manufacturers, brokers and others have benefitted from this commitment.

“Indeed, Allan has used his understanding of retailing and private branding as one of the foundations for his public speaking talents,” she says. “Put a microphone in his hand, turn on some bright lights, and Allan will come alive sharing his knowledge.”

Noddle says he is happy to be recognized by his peers for his accomplishments.

“It just kind of solidifies my philosophy over the years — that in order to improve the store experience and to not just survive, but to thrive in this industry, you can’t do that without a highly effective private brand program,” he says. “It’s nice to be rewarded for things you thought about years ago that are now being considered as mainstream and innovative.”

Leonard Pearlstein

Private label entrepreneur

Way back in 1955, Leonard Pearlstein formed Penn Trading, the company that would become Confab Inc., America’s largest manufacturer of private label sanitary pads, incontinence products and disposable diapers at its high point in the early 1990s. But the company actually got its start selling products such as hosiery and egg cartons, explains Andrew Simon, president of R Brands, Bryn Mawr, Pa. Simon was part of the Confab team early on, eventually becoming president of its North American division.

A private label pioneer

In the 1970s — the early days of disposable diapers — Pearlstein and his company started working with paper manufacturer Weyerhaeuser Co. Together, the companies essentially built the private label diaper category, Simon notes.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Pearlstein established sales offices for Confab across the country to allow the company to serve retailers nationwide. Through a joint partnership with the Tampax brand in the late 1970s, Confab became the first company to enter into the private label tampon business, he explains. The company then entered the private label sanitary napkin arena in 1981, and the incontinence product market in 1985.

Confab also began manufacturing many of its own products through its International Consumer Disposables (ICD) arm. According to Abbie Dean, Pearlstein’s daughter (who also worked for the company as senior vice president, communications and advertising), Pearlstein placed two plants in operation simultaneously in 1981 — in Philadelphia and in Anaheim, Calif. In the early 1990s, ICD was rolled into the Confab corporate umbrella to simplify its identity.

Pearlstein was able to build and succeed in a number of private label categories in part because of his commitment to innovation. For example, he persuaded research and development talent from national brands to come work for him, according to a Nov. 22, 1993, article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, and also formed an exclusive research and development alliance with DuPont.

Pearlstein also outfitted the plants with the best equipment.

“Not only did he purchase state-of-the-art machinery from the top maker in Germany,” Dean says, “he recruited their head of manufacturing, Gerd Cremer, to Confab to run them.”

A lasting legacy

At the time of Pearlstein’s death — in 1996, at the age of 68 — Confab boasted 1,200 employees and had sales in excess of $300 million annually, Simon notes. Although Tyco International acquired Confab in 1998, Pearlstein’s legacy lives on.

Rich Swanson — principal with The Swanson Group, Buffalo Grove, Ill., and part of the former Confab management team — suggests that Pearlstein also will be remembered for his dedication to the company’s retailer customers.

“Leonard’s goal was to always provide the best possible product and merchandising offering in order to create best-in-class value for our retailers and their customers,” he says. “He and our team went to great lengths to find the best raw materials, technology, machines and associates in order to win big.”

A true entrepreneur, Pearlstein loved to build private label solutions and beat the national brands, Swanson adds.

“He always studied the European retailer model with the goal of getting USA retailers to include private brands as a strategic pillar within their overall strategic business plan,” he adds. “His life was cut short, but his legacy carries on via the many who worked with him and loved him.”