LOS ANGELES — Mike Proulx, who left his position as president and chief operating officer of Bashas', Chandler, Ariz., in September, has agreed to become a lecturer in the Food Industry Management program at the University of Southern California here, Bob Hermanns, the new FIM director, told SN.

Hermanns said he and Proulx are still working out the details of what Proulx will teach when the FIM semester starts in mid-January. Proulx, who graduated from the USC program for middle managers in 1997, said joining it "will provide a great opportunity for me to share my industry experience with the incoming class and to impart what I've been through in hopes that my experience and learnings will benefit them in their careers. It's also an opportunity for me to give back to a program I love very much."

Coincidentally, Proulx, who spent 43 years with the Arizona chain, will be working in the same capacity as another former Arizona retailer, Ed Hill, who was the former chairman and chief executive officer of Phoenix-based Abco Markets when he became a lecturer in the FIM program more than a decade ago before retiring last spring.

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