Food City Appoints Sara Baldwin as Director of Finance and Planning

Abingdon, Va.-based retailer Food City in a statement said Sara Baldwin will assume the newly created position of director of finance and planning.

Sara Baldwin

Baldwin will oversee the company’s finance, treasury and budgeting functions. In her new role she will become a member of the company’s senior staff executive leadership team.  

“Sara has a comprehensive understanding of the grocery industry and Food City in particular, having worked in a number of store departments while in college,” Food City President and CEO Steven Smith said. “She is instrumental in streamlining our budgeting processes and is a key part of our financial modeling and decision- making. She is also a key member of our leadership team and mentors a young team of talented financial professionals. We are certainly proud of Sara and all that she’s accomplished thus far in her relatively young career.”

Baldwin began her grocery career in 2008, working as a cashier, while attending East Tennessee State University. She left the company in 2013 to pursue a teaching career and returned in 2016, accepting a position as a financial analyst. In 2017, Baldwin was promoted to financial planning and analysis supervisor and advanced to her most recent role of finance senior manager in 2019. 

Born and raised in Newport, Tenn., Baldwin graduated from East Tennessee State University, with a BBA in economics in 2011 and received her MBA in 2014. She also received her graduate accounting certificate and completed the National Grocers Association Cornell Executive Leadership Development Program in 2021. 

She is certified by Food Marketing Institute as a Food Retail Leader and is a member of the Tri-City Business Journal’s 40 Under Forty class of 2020. 

In other leadership news for the retailer, Rodney Dillard is now EVP of operations for Food City’s Chattanooga operating division.

Dillard brings 37 years of industry experience to the position; he will be taking the role from Rick Bishop, who has been promoted to EVP of operations for Food City’s Tri-City division. The Tri-City role was previously held by John Cecil, who plans to retire after 42 years of service. 

Food City parent K-VA-T Food Stores operates 138 retail outlets throughout southeast Kentucky, southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, north Georgia and Alabama.