2025 Women of Influence

The Shelby-Griffin Report presents the 20th annual tribute to Women of Influence in the food industry. For 20 years, we’ve honored the outstanding women shaping the food industry—from executives and innovators to mentors and community leaders. This year’s nominees represent a diverse range of roles, backgrounds, and regions, each making a profound impact in their careers and beyond.

Explore their stories below, and join us in celebrating their achievements.

2025 Women of Influence

2025 Women of Influence

Maria Gomez

Sales Team Supervisor, Northgate Gonzalez Market

Maria Gomez began her career at Northgate González Market as a cashier at age 16. Over the past 24 years, she has grown within the company and is proud today to lead marketing initiatives that elevate the brand through events and community engagement. Some of Maria's key accomplishments include creating experiences that build brand loyalty, launching the annual Kids' Class program – which has become a community favorite – and introducing fresh, innovative ideas to keep events exciting year after year. She also takes great pride in developing and coaching her team. What Maria finds most rewarding about her role is the opportunity to work alongside her team to bring meaningful programs to life. In her opinion, success is built through collaboration and a mindset focused on growth and possibility. Leading a team of 64 direct reports and supporting major initiatives, such as new store openings and large-scale events, inspires Maria to show that anything is possible with passion, perseverance and dedication.

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2025 Women of Influence

Maria Sanchez

Director of Tortilleria, Northgate Gonzalez Market

With more than 25 years in the tortilleria industry, Maria Sanchez has helped position Northgate at the forefront of innovation in the space. Her journey began as a tortilleria clerk. Through continuous learning and a drive for improvement, she has led projects across California, Arizona, Las Vegas and Texas, before returning to California, where it all started.
As the first female director of tortilleria, Maria is proud of the work her team has accomplished to elevate the Rancho González Tortillas brand. Innovation has been a key factor in their success, whether through the development of fresh flour tortillas at the Mercado store in Costa Mesa or the introduction of regional corn grains like blue corn.
Northgate's focus on enhancing the authentic Mexican experience in-store has driven exponential growth for the tortilleria category.
Maria's career has not been without sacrifice. She's grateful for the support of her family, who are the driving force behind everything she does. She says she hopes to be an example to her daughters and other women that anything is possible with hard work, humility and big dreams.

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2025 Women of Influence

Marnie Nemcoff

E-commerce Manager, Gelson's Market

Marnie Nemcoff demonstrates the importance of consistency, driving others to learn and grow in every situation. She thrives in environments that are ever-changing and has helped the company take several steps forward in the e-commerce arena.
Marnie has overcome several hurdles on her leadership journey and today is one of the most authentic women in the company. She tackles challenges with grace and courage. Marnie is tenacious and never gives up – no matter the obstacles.

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2025 Women of Influence

Mary Deleone

Office Clerk, Save A Lot Food

Mary Deleone's exceptional ability to collaborate with retail partners, store managers and area business consultants is evident through her detailed research and innovative problem-solving, particularly in addressing credit-related challenges. Her dedication to ensuring retail partners receive unparalleled support has resulted in stronger collaboration across multiple teams, including management, creating a cohesive and results-driven environment. Mary consistently goes above and beyond, approaching every project with enthusiasm and determination that inspires her colleagues. Her willingness to take on additional tasks is matched by her proactive ability to provide constructive feedback, refining and improving processes to achieve excellence. Her positive attitude and commitment to continuous improvement make her an invaluable asset to any initiative she undertakes. In 2024, Mary led a key initiative in partnership with the supervision team that successfully recovered previously lost revenue, showcasing her strategic mindset and ability to deliver measurable results. This achievement not only recovered significant dollars but also demonstrated her focus on driving financial performance for the organization. Mary's deep understanding of the company's various departments has been instrumental in training and supporting team members. Her ability to leverage her knowledge has helped streamline workflows and foster professional growth within the team, further solidifying her role.

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2025 Women of Influence

Maureen E. Davis

National Director Sales and Strategy – Taylor Farms Deli Prepared Foods, Taylor Farms

Maureen Davis has dedicated more than two decades to shaping the success of Taylor Farms. Beginning her career more than 21 years ago as a regional business lead at the company's Maryland facility, she spearheaded business development across the Northeast United States. In 2013, Maureen ascended to her current role, where she leads transformative initiatives in the prepared food division, driving growth and innovation. Throughout her tenure, Maureen has collaborated with visionary leaders who inspire her to enact meaningful change within the organization. Beyond her professional achievements, she has contributed to industry advancement through her five-year service on the International Dairy, Deli and Baker Association. Outside of work, Maureen is an avid sports enthusiast, with more than 20 years of experience officiating women's college basketball. She credits this role for honing her leadership skills and strengthening her ability to build confidence in others. Maureen has a bachelor's degree in business marketing from Towson University.

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2025 Women of Influence

Melissa Johnston

Director of Culture and Communications, Tryon Distributing

Melissa Johnston is an exceptional leader whose dedication to her profession and her community make her a Woman of Influence. Melissa has consistently demonstrated a commitment to fostering positive change, particularly in the beer industry and local charitable organizations. Through Tryon Distributing's annual charity golf tournament, Melissa has helped raise more than $95,000 in charitable donations, significantly impacting various causes. Her leadership extends to the literary world as well, where she served as the editor of Brewing Ambition, a book that highlights the achievements and contributions of women in North Carolina's craft brewing industry. A champion for women in beer, Melissa played a pivotal role in planning and executing the Biere de Femme beer festival, an event specifically designed to promote and support women in the brewing industry. Additionally, she was instrumental in building the Charlotte chapter of the Pink Boots Society, a global organization that empowers women in the beer industry through education and networking. Melissa's dedication to creating opportunities for women, her unwavering support for charitable causes and her active involvement in the beer industry highlight her profound influence in both her field and her community.

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2025 Women of Influence

Melissa Rasmussen

Senior Director of Private Brands and Procurement, MDI

Melissa Rasmussen exemplifies what it means to be a results-driven leader in the food industry. At MDI, she consistently achieves strategic goals, drives cross-functional project success and delivers measurable outcomes that fuel organizational growth and efficiency. Her ability to shape strategy, apply financial insights and maintain a sharp customer focus has made her an invaluable leader who continuously elevates performance and innovation. Her leadership is defined by vision and alignment. She proactively identifies long-term opportunities with significant potential, all while encouraging collaboration across departments to ensure unified execution. Her understanding of customer businesses goes beyond the surface, allowing her to build meaningful partnerships that create lasting value. Outside of her corporate achievements, Melissa is a passionate civic and philanthropic contributor. She serves on the FMI Private Brands Executive Committee, supporting industry advancement and collaboration. Within her local community, she leads impactful efforts as outreach chair at Mount Pisgah Lutheran Church, organizing events and initiatives through their food pantry or vacation bible school. For more than 25 years, Melissa has mentored youth by teaching dance, helping middle and high school girls build confidence and skills that prepare them for future success.

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2025 Women of Influence

Michelle Story

VP, Business Development, Taylor Farms

Michelle Story has established herself as a pivotal figure in the produce industry. She manages a key account customer relationship with Walmart, demonstrating exceptional leadership and strategic acumen.
Under Michelle's guidance, the Walmart account has grown to include a diverse portfolio of nearly 200 items, showcasing her ability to drive product innovation and market expansion.
Michelle's responsibilities extend beyond traditional account management. She maintains profit and loss responsibilities, ensuring the account's financial health, spearheads item development initiatives, keeping Taylor Farms at the forefront of consumer trends, and orchestrates a national logistics network, coordinating 15 production facilities across the U.S. and Mexico.
Michelle's success at Taylor Farms is built upon a solid foundation of experience in the agriculture and produce sectors, including her time at Tanimura & Antle, California Strawberry Commission and Tulare County AG Commissioner's Office.
As the produce industry evolves, Michelle stands at the forefront of innovation and growth. Her ability to navigate complex supply chains, drive product development and maintain strong customer relationships has not only benefited Taylor Farms but also contributed to the advancement of fresh, healthy food options for consumers across the nation.

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2025 Women of Influence

Molly Tabron

Director of Supply, Robinson Fresh

Molly Tabron's journey within Robinson Fresh includes a variety of roles across several job families. These roles include experience in replenishment, category management, finance and analytics. Molly has made an immediate and lasting impact in each one of these roles and has established best practices that are still in use today. The combination of experience in product procurement and analytics, alongside a proven track record for developing high-performing teams, led to her current role. Molly is responsible for the grower base and supply teams across all fresh produce categories. She also serves as the company's expert in controlled environment agriculture. She is also an active volunteer through several of C.H. Robinson's ERGs, with a focus on minority student groups, women and high-potential young professionals. While more comfortable out of the spotlight, Molly has been recognized as one of Produce Business's "Top 40 Under 40 Winner." Molly leads by example daily and is the first to invest time in others development.

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2025 Women of Influence

Monica Murphy

Manager of Front End Operations, Giant Food

Monica Murphy is responsible for developing strategies to drive sales through customer service programs and initiative at a brand level. As needs arise, she provides brand oversight to ancillary businesses such as fuel, delivery and business development. She makes recommendations to enhance processes and methodology and develop best practices.
Monica collaborates with business owners to establish front end standards and coordinate required policy updates with store communications and brand technical writer. She coordinates with store technology specialist and provides support to stores for all front-end systems including POS, self-checkout, Western Union application and card manager application. Supervise, schedule all UAT-required testing for POS, Scan It, SCO and other front-end applications as needed.
Monica oversees all the company's 164 stores in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. She also works with other sister brands, as well as the support center, to find solutions to impact the brand. She is a change agent to help solve company challenges. She has nine direct reports, as well as 164 customer service managers and 164 front end mangers whom she impacts daily
Monica also plays a key role in training all levels of store associates on company principles and operational rules. She and her team monitor department operations to ensure compliance with established rules.

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