Cal Dooley

It turns out Cal Dooley’s time at Grocery Manufacturers Association will be brief.

His surprise resignation announcement earlier this month followed a busy tenure of less than two years in which two associations, GMA and Food Products Association, were integrated and an ambitious agenda was pursued. Dooley will leave GMA in September to lead the American Chemistry Council. GMA has begun to searchfor a successor who can keep the momentum going.

A big question is: What type of background is GMA seeking in its new leader? The choice of Dooley had signaled a need for political clout and experience. Dooley had previously served as a congressman for 12 years, representing California’s San Joaquin Valley. In 2005 he became head of FPA, which merged with GMA in January 2007. Dooley was then chosen to lead the combined entity.

Will GMA again seek a person closely tied to the political scene? Or will it instead search for an industry veteran? This time around, the CEO search will be led by Doug Conant, GMA’s chairman, who is president and CEO of Campbell Soup Co. Conant formed a search committee following Dooley’s resignation announcement.

The ultimate decision will probably hinge on who can best steer GMA through its key initiatives. Dooley had pursued a multifaceted agenda that incorporated legislative, regulatory and scientific elements.

In an interview with SN shortly before his surprise announcement, Dooley assessed accomplishments and future challenges. One of the highlights involved the food safety arena. Dooley and GMA last September began pushing a program called “four pillars for enhanced food and import safety.” The initiative supports public-private partnerships that seek improved supplier food safety efforts, along with calling for enhanced resources for the Food and Drug Administration.

Those principles were incorporated in a recently introduced bipartisan congressional bill called the Safe Food Enforcement, Assessment, Standards and Targeting Act, also appropriately dubbed the Safe FEAST Act.

“It’s framing the debate on public-private partnerships to enhance food safety,” Dooley said.

GMA has also been out front in pushing a “food before fuel initiative” that takes issue with aspects of the government’s current energy approach. “We are working to educate policy makers to change biofuels policy that diverts food commodities into fuel production, which leads to higher food prices,” Dooley said.

Another key initiative is supporting environmental sustainability by pushing for “best practices, alliances through the industry, and metrics.”

A cornerstone of that effort will be the creation of a sustainability metric consisting of a typical market basket of products purchased by consumers. Stephen Sibert, GMA’s senior vice president for industry affairs, said this metric will be used to quantify reductions in the use of energy, packaging and water resources that are being achieved by suppliers on an annual basis.

On the legislative front, GMA is supporting free trade agreements that remove barriers to exports. The association is also prepared to battle tax increase proposals next year if Democrats win big in the congressional and presidential elections this fall.

Now the association needs a general to lead the troops in these upcoming battles. GMA will no doubt move with prudent speed to make sure that happens.

— DAVID ORGEL