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Industry Innovators

In A.G. Lafley's book, The Game-Changer, he explains that one definition of the book's title is a visionary strategist who alters the game his business plays or conceives an entirely new game. That describes not only Lafley, the chairman and chief executive of Procter & Gamble Co., but also the other two industry leaders who join him as inductees into this year's SN Hall of Fame: Steve Burd, chairman,

In A.G. Lafley's book, “The Game-Changer,” he explains that one definition of the book's title is “a visionary strategist who alters the game his business plays or conceives an entirely new game.”

That describes not only Lafley, the chairman and chief executive of Procter & Gamble Co., but also the other two industry leaders who join him as inductees into this year's SN Hall of Fame: Steve Burd, chairman, president and CEO of Safeway, and George Jenkins, founder of Publix Super Markets.

In his 16 years at the helm of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway, Burd has remade the company into a lean, powerful business that he is now reshaping to be more like a consumer brand. He has also grappled with tough industry issues like soaring health care costs, and found innovative solutions. His profile begins on Page 16.

Lafley, profiled on Pages 20-21, took over Cincinnati-based P&G in 2000 and proceeded to rebuild it around a set of core brands and a renewed focus on the consumer, and in the process set a new standard for innovation in the CPG industry.

At Publix, Jenkins took a single store and some guiding principles — among them that employees should have an ownership stake in the business and that customer service is the most important attribute for a supermarket to have — and created a regional powerhouse that still dominates the Florida marketplace 78 years later. His story begins on Page 22.

PAST INDUCTEES:

Charles Butt
Chairman and CEO
H.E. Butt Grocery Co.

Jim Sinegal
President and CEO
Costco Wholesale Corp.

Robert Wegman
Former Chairman
Wegmans Food Markets