Topco Associates named its 2020 board of directors during its annual meeting on Feb. 19.
Board members include:
- Chairman of the Board: Pete Van Helden, CEO, Stater Bros. Markets;
- Vice Chairman of the Board: Randy Edeker, chairman, CEO and president, Hy-Vee Inc.;
- Neal Berube, president and CEO, Associated Food Stores Inc.;
- Brad Brookshire, chairman and CEO, Brookshire Holdings Inc.;
- Chris Coborn, chairman, president and CEO, Coborn’s Inc.;
- Charlie D’Amour, president and CEO, Big Y Foods Inc.;
- Brian George, president and CEO, Alex Lee Inc.;
- Scott Grimmett, president and CEO, Golub Corp./Price Chopper Supermarkets;
- Todd Schnuck, chairman and CEO, Schnuck Markets Inc.;
- Randy Skoda, president and CEO, Topco Associates LLC; and
- Steve Smith, president and CEO, K-VA-T Food Stores Inc.
Topco Associates LLC, headquartered in Elk Grove, Illinois, is a more than $14 billion privately held, member-owned company that provides aggregation, innovation and knowledge management solutions for its leading food industry member-owners and customers, including grocery retailers, wholesalers food service and pharmacy companies. Topco leverages the collective volume, knowledge and commitment of these companies to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace by reducing costs and offering winning business-building capabilities.
It began in 1944 as a small cooperative formed to supply its members with dairy products and paper goods, allowing them to operate in spite of wartime shortages. Called Food Cooperatives Inc. at the time, the products procured by this organization were sold under the Food Club and Elna labels. Some of the members of Food Cooperatives also were members of another cooperative called Top Frost Foods. By early 1950, it was obvious that the two cooperatives were clearly well matched, which resulted in a merger of the two companies in December of that year. This was the beginning of Topco Associates Inc. Folklore has it that the name “Topco” came from the “top” of Top Frost and the “co” of Food Cooperatives. Some people claim it’s an acronym for “top companies.”
