Tyson Deli Management Aims High

Tyson Foods, Inc. is pleased to report that the senior members of the Tyson Deli team have earned the highest category management certification. These professionals have solidified themselves as industry leaders by obtaining the Category Management Association’s (CMA) designation of Certified Professional Strategic Advisor. The senior management team members currently certified include Eric LeBlanc, vice president of marketing, deli and convenience store; Scott Moses, senior brand manager; T. FuQua, brand manager; and Sharon Essary, category strategic advisor. Each of these professionals is in the marketplace providing leadership in shopper marketing and category management. The CMA has three levels of certification: Category Analyst, Category Manager and Strategic Advisor. Certified Professional Strategic Advisors have successfully completed 33 distinctive learning programs that include Consultative Selling, Root Cause Analytics and Advanced Pricing Analysis. "Tyson's commitment to industry driven category management certification adds tremendous value to their retail partners and further establishes their leadership role in the industry and especially in the deli," says Kevin Costello, senior  vice president business development, Category Management Association. "Their category expertise is evidenced by the cutting edge product innovation and effective merchandising programs developed for the channel matched with the investment in the professional advancement of their team members." The CMA certified Tyson Deli management team employs their category expertise and skill set to develop proven products, promotions and merchandising strategies that increase traffic and generate top-line sales in the deli. The deli management team works with supermarket senior managers to analyze shopper trends, product assortment, merchandising, pricing and packaging strategies to develop programs that increase category sales. Tyson Deli category insights are supported by an impressive array of consumer communication tactics across the entire path to purchase, including consumer-promotions and point of sale materials that have proven effective in driving sales at the point of purchase. Tyson Deli shares their category expertise in a variety of venues, including rich information on the company’s website, tysondeli.com, and with industry events such as a recent webinar for the CMA and presentations at industry conferences, such as the Shopper Insights and Action Conference and National Grocers Association Annual Conference. “Tyson is dedicated to leadership and research, making it our mission to provide our retail partners with category analysis, and fact-based business solutions in an effort to help increase category sales and create a better shopping experience for consumers,” says Michael Keeley, vice president of deli sales/foodservice.