Tim Hammonds

In a world of few certainties, it is fairly certain Tim Hammonds won’t be one of SN’s power players as head of the Food Marketing Institute next year.

Hammonds earlier this year announced his retirement as FMI’s president and chief executive officer after a long career with the Arlington, Va.-based trade association and serving 15 years as its leader. “Liberating” is the word Hammonds used to describe the prospects of not being on next year’s list.

As to what he’ll do next? “I need to see what opportunities develop and select where I can really make a contribution,” he told SN.

FMI is in a transition stage, having revamped its convention format and switched venues from Chicago to Las Vegas with this year’s FMI Show, and to Dallas in 2009 with the Future Connect Conference. The prospects of new leadership provide FMI’s board an opportunity to assess various options going forward, Hammonds said.

Mentioning the Global Associations Landscape project, which evolved out of discussions at the 2007 Global CEO Forum to create efficient global associations that would work together to avoid duplication of projects and conferences, Hammonds said the timing is good for the industry and FMI to rethink how its members want to use and support trade associations. “A scarce resource for leading industry executives is time. Anything we can do to help them streamline the number of associations they have to support, or different conferences they have to attend that duplicate each other, will benefit the entire industry,” he stated.

Hammonds not only implemented the change in show formats this year, he also presided over a number of public policy issues that impact the industry. First among them is food safety. He said the industry can expect food safety to be on FMI’s plate for the long run, despite the many industry initiatives to protect the public, including an online recall system, developed in conjunction with GS1 and the Grocery Manufacturers Association, slated to go live early this fall. Situations like the latest mysterious salmonella outbreak, with suspects tomatoes and jalapeno peppers, will surface to erode consumer confidence in the food supply. “We have to keep working on this. The government alone is never going to have enough resources or money to do the job.”

Hammonds also saw the successful passage of Medicare legislation (H.R. 633), despite a presidential veto, which Congress voted to override last week. The legislation will delay Medicaid cuts to pharmacy reimbursements, ensure prompt payment of Medicare pharmacy claims, encourage e-prescribing and delay competitive bidding for durable medical equipment. FMI worked in conjunction with the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and other pharmacy associations in seeking passage of this bill.

Progress also was made on credit card fee legislation that would bring relief to merchants from the escalating interchange fees they pay on electronic credit and debit card transactions. Working in conjunction with the National Association of Convenience Stores, Hammonds expects the bill at the very least to pass the House of Representatives by the end of this year.

FMI also saw legislation it supports introduced last week that would make organized retail crime a federal felony.

Hammonds is also inviting coalition support to fight Card Check legislation that would eliminate secret ballot elections for union membership. Democrats support the legislation.

Action on favorable food industry legislation will depend on the nature of a new administration that Hammonds’ successor will have to face.

— CHRISTINA VEIDERS