PALM DESERT, Calif. — With 50% of corporate leadership aged 50 or above at Supervalu, Jeff Noddle, chairman and chief executive officer, said the Minneapolis-based company is striving to educate itself about the needs of its future leaders and prepare itself to meet their needs. “Competition among all of us for Generation X is fierce,” he told the 87th Annual Convention of the Western Association of Food Chains yesterday. “But we’ve got to find ways to collaborate as an industry to create a buzz (to attract young executives).” At Albertsons, Supervalu is trying to find new ways to communicate with younger employees through affinity groups by meeting with each one to develop more first-hand knowledge of how they think. “I met with one African American group — just me and 35 of them — and you think you have an equal opportunity tradition, until you talk with them about subtleties that put walls up,” Noddle said.

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