FMI Makes Board Appointments, Joins Climate Change Alliance

FMI–The Food Industry Association has added five members to its board of directors, including the CEOs of C&S Wholesale Grocers and SpartanNash, and introduced two leaders from its product suppliers, with a goal of furthering connectivity among food retailers, suppliers and other business partners.

The association also announced it joined the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance, a diverse group of organizations working together to develop and promote shared climate policy priorities.  

The newest retailer/wholesaler board members are Tim Devanney, co-president, Highland Park Market; Bob Palmer, CEO, C&S Wholesale Grocers; John Laney, SVP, general merchandise manager, packaged goods, Walmart; Lisa Roath, SVP, merchandising, food and beverage, Target; and Tony Sarsam, president and CEO, SpartanNash. 

Its newest product supplier board members are Tony Gavin, EVP, Bimbo Bakeries USA, and Shane Grant, EVP and CEO, Danone North America. FMI's product suppliers now total 13. 

During her report to the board recently, FMI President and CEO Leslie Sarasin shared that the association continues to reevaluate member expectations of FMI and the ways industry participants want to engage with FMI to support its core mission to advocate, collaborate and educate while supporting the food industry’s efforts to feed families and enrich lives. 

The association's joining of the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA), which represents a cross-section of farmers, ranchers, forest owners, the food sector, state governments and environmental advocates, aligns with this mission. 

“Agriculture has always been at the mercy of unpredictable elements, but a rapidly changing climate is making farming an even more challenging enterprise,” Sarasin said in a blog. “The intricacies of our food system, including growing and producing food, transporting it, selling it and mitigating food loss or waste all contribute to climate change. Addressing food and environmental concerns across the supply chain isn’t simple work. It will quite literally take farm to fork working together to make change.”

Sarasin said one of the “the easiest and most important steps toward creating a safe, affordable and sustainable food supply is to ensure our existing resources are utilized as efficiently as possible. Tackling food waste is, therefore, an important step toward achieving the larger goals of FACA.”  

Estimates show that anywhere from 25% to as much as 40% of food grown in the U.S. ends up as food waste, she states in the blog.

FACA plans to present Congress with more than 40 recommendations pertaining to agricultural and forestry climate policy.

The alliance was formed in February by four groups that now co-chair the alliance: American Farm Bureau Federation, Environmental Defense Fund, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and National Farmers Union. In addition to FMI, it now includes the National Alliance of Forest Owners, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture and The Nature Conservancy.