Wakefern hires Nazesh Cattelona as diversity & inclusion director

Nazesh Cattelona has joined retail grocery cooperative Wakefern Food Corp. as director of diversity and inclusion, a newly created position.

Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern said yesterday that Cattelona becomes a member of its human resources leadership team and will work across the cooperative to bolster its diversity and inclusion practices. In addition, she will be charged with helping Wakefern attract and retain employees who reflect the company’s commitment to diversity.

Cattelona (left) reports to Nicole Gasaway, chief human resources officer at Wakefern, whose retail banners include ShopRite.

“We are delighted to welcome Naz to Wakefern and look forward to working with her as we develop an impactful diversity and inclusion strategy,” Gasaway said in a statement. “We’re confident Naz’s leadership will bring about positive, meaningful change and ultimately enrich the experience for our associates, leaders, members and customers.”

Cattelona comes to Wakefern from musical instruments retail chain Guitar Center, where she served as director of human resources. Besides developing a team to support an inclusive work culture and building growth-focused engagement strategies, she created successful initiatives impacting culture, talent strategy and organization effectiveness in a company of 10,000 associates, according to Wakefern.
 
Before joining Guitar Center, Cattelona spent more than 10 years at Target Corp. in various leadership roles, including as human resources director for the greater Philadelphia and Baltimore areas, and as human resources business partner in the northern New Jersey and greater New York region. At Target, she helped optimize the engagement and performance of store teams covering more than 10,000 employees, Wakefern noted. And prior to Target, Cattelona served as a human resources manager at Lord & Taylor.

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The nation’s largest retailer-owned cooperative, Wakefern now has 50 members who independently own and operate 359 supermarkets under the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage and Fairway Market banners in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.