WASHINGTON -- The National Confectioners Association (NCA) has announced the recipients of the 2013 Confectionery Leadership Awards. The awards celebrate contributions to the category by recipients through their effective business collaboration, category management best practices and innovations in merchandising confectionery products in-store.
NCA nominated the following individuals for their creativity and innovative thinking, and for exceeding the award criteria:
- Julia Bischoff, senior category manager at Smart & Final.
- Kimberley Felice-Dooley, senior category manager at CVS Caremark Corp.
- AJ Jesswani, category merchant for candy and commercial bakery at Meijer Inc.
"This award program was designed to acknowledge those trade customers who serve as role models for other retailers and wholesalers," said NCA president Larry Graham. "It recognizes individuals who use their experience to encourage visionary thinking and to drive the entire confectionery category forward."
NCA created the awards program in 2011 to recognize and honor the confectionery industry's best and most innovative category champions and leaders. The program allows NCA manufacturers and brokers to recognize these outstanding retailers and wholesalers in the confectionery community for their effective customer marketing, shopper-driven shelving practices, and promotion of new items.
Bischoff, Felice-Dooley and Jesswani will receive their awards in Miami at NCA's annual State of the Industry Conference in February.
The NCA fosters industry growth by advancing the interests of the confectionery industry and its customers. Serving as the voice of the industry, it advocates for the needs of the industry before government bodies, helps the industry understand and implement food safety and other regulations, provides information to help members strengthen business in today's competitive environment and creates relationships between all sectors of the industry including manufacturers, brokers, trade customers, suppliers to the industry and consumers.
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