West Bridgewater, MA (Tuesday, August 7, 2007) -- Shaws Supermarket announced today that Shaw's Vice President of Retail Operations, Peggy Pfaltzgraff-Holden, was named to Progressive Grocer's first annual "Top Women in Grocery" listing for her outstanding efforts, involvement, leadership, and success in the supermarket industry. Of the fifty featured profiles, Pfaltzgraff-Holden was spotlighted alongside five other honorees from Shaws parent company, SUPERVALU, combining for the largest representation of a single grocery company on the list. Progressive Grocer is a leading grocery industry trade magazine.
Peggy Pfaltzgraff-Holden serves as a regional VP of Operations in the company's mountain region, overseeing 110 Shaw's stores in four New England states -- Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and northern Massachusetts. Pfaltzgraff-Holden's held many retail positions in her 25 year career prior to coming to Shaw's in July 2006, including director of store development of the drug division, district manager, regional HR manager, regional operations manager, division customer service manager and store director. During that time, she received several awards; the most recent being two Awards for Excellence - the 2002 Drug Division Eagle Award and the 2005 Drug Division Presidents Excellence Award, which are presented to an individual who represents outstanding contributions, executing at the highest level of the business and the delivery of the best bottom line results. Pfaltzgraff-Holden was also awarded the Dale Carnegie Highest Achievement Award.
Through her passion for excellence, she provides strong leadership and support for her seven districts which have over 10,000 associates. She also encourages associates within her region to take an active role in the company's CORUS program; a volunteer initiative started by Albertson's Inc., In addition, Pfaltzgraff-Holden is one of the first organizers of MESA (Mentoring, Encouraging, Supporting and Achieving), the companys affinity group for women in management.
"Peggy works hard day-in and day-out to serve our customers and our associates better than anyone else in the industry. Her knowledge and expertise make her an invaluable asset to the company and we are privileged to have her as part of our leadership team," said Cindy Garnett, Shaw's Vice President of Human Resources.
In addition to Pfaltzgraff-Holden, SUPERVALUs executive vice president and CFO, Pamela Knous; executive vice president and COO of Supply Chain Services, Janel Haugarth; Shop 'N Save president, Marlene Gebhard; ACME president, Judy Spires; and Retail West senior vice president of merchandising and marketing, Sue Klug were all recognized as grocery industry leaders.
The list of women was selected by Progressive Grocer editors and was based on industry nominations. Several factors contributing to the choice included leadership and influence within both the nominees company and the greater supermarket industry, areas of responsibility, career accolades and achievements, industry and community involvement, and philanthropic activities.
As a company whose customer demographics vary significantly across the country and whose primary customers are women, Shaw's Supermarket understands that a diverse workforce is a vital component to its long-term success. Diversity empowers Shaws to make the best decisions based on product selection, merchandising, and marketing that are most relevant to its customers as part of its overall business commitment to being the best place to work, shop, and invest in the industry.
"We appreciate the value that diversity offers and we constantly aim to diversify our workforce," said Garnett. Diversity energizes associates, fosters creativity and innovation, and ultimately improves overall performance," continued Garnett. "We are proud to have strong women in leadership roles and are excited about the growing presence of female leadership within the grocery industry."
Shaw's, Osco and Star Market are a division of SUPERVALU INC. Throughout the six New England states, there are more than 200 store locations employing approximately 30,000 associates. SUPERVALU INC. is one of the largest companies in the United States grocery channel with 2,500 retail grocery locations holding leading market positions. SUPERVALU also provides distribution and related logistics support services to more than 5,000 grocery retail endpoints across the country. SUPERVALU currently has approximately 200,000 employees. For more information, please visit www.shaws.com or www.supervalu.com.