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

Natalie Crowe-Menza

Director of Customer Marketing, Wakefern Food Corp.

Natalie Crowe-Menza drives consumer marketing trends, focusing on customer retention and attraction for Wakefern Food Corp., the nation's largest retailer-owned cooperative, spanning the eastern U.S. from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire. She oversees revenue and income targets, leading innovative strategies to engage customers.
Natalie oversees dietitian programs, health and wellness marketing and omnichannel product sampling, enhancing customer experience and community relationships. She has expanded reach and engagement with Hispanic clientele through product updates, merchandising plans and marketing initiatives, utilizing data and a strategic approach. Natalie has diversified demos and product sampling to drive customer growth and conversion rates.
Natalie is a recipient of the Esther Peterson Award for Customer Service and the YWCA Tribute to Women and Industry Award. She served as chair of the FMI Health and Wellness Council for a decade. In the community, Natalie is involved in the local Parent Teacher Association and supports teachers as a class parent.

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2025 Women of Influence

Natalie Menns-Lodge

Director of Customer Service, Krasdale Foods

Natalie Menns-Lodge is a standout leader whose impact is felt across the organization. At Krasdale Foods, she has led the transition to a lean, hybrid, part-time model – enhancing efficiency, coverage and employee satisfaction. While the vision was set at the executive level, Natalie brought it to life by optimizing scheduling, managing workforce transitions and setting performance standards with precision.
Her initiative sets her apart. She independently developed a customer service training manual that became the gold standard for onboarding and team development, leading her to spearhead documentation efforts in other departments, including sales.
Natalie also upskilled in KPI analysis and Excel-based reporting, using data insights to drive continuous improvement. With 18 years in customer service, she is preparing to lead the inside sales support team. A model of excellence and accountability, Natalie doesn't just manage change – she makes it work.

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2025 Women of Influence

Nikki Carver

President and CEO, Super C Mart

Nikki Carver is a leader through and through. She has spent the last 15 years growing and developing her family's grocery business. During her tenure, the family-owned company has grown to eight locations and continues to reinvest in stores and the community. Nikki moved into her current role in 2020 after her father's death and stepped up to the challenge of running the entire business during a time of deep loss. Since then, she has been elected to Associated Wholesale Grocers' board of directors, making history as the first woman on the panel. Nikki is involved in the industry and continues to look for ways to strengthen and grow the independent grocery landscape.

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2025 Women of Influence

Nora Sessions

CEO, Nora Foods Inc.

Nora Sessions was born in Mexico and immigrated to the U.S. when she was 13 years old. She has been helping the Hispanic retail market evolve for the past 30 years. Nora Foods specializes in Mexican products and the lines it represents are 95 percent Hispanic. Nora has brought brands such as El Yucateco habanero sauces to Texas and helped make them the No. 1 brand in the U.S. She also brought Stella candles to the U.S. and helped it build up multi-million dollar sales. Starting out in her one-bedroom apartment, Nora has built the company into the $65 million-plus annual business that it is today. While still considered a small business, she believes that it makes her fewer than 50 employees more like family than just a faceless corporate office. She also has her own brand of products, Mi Huerta, which includes items such as vanilla, moles, hot teas, piloncillo, huitlacoche and many other products from Mexico. Nora also is a philanthropist involved in schools that cater to special needs students as well as Catholic charities.

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2025 Women of Influence

Olivia Maldonado

Director of Data Integrity, Northgate Gonzalez Market

Olivia Maldonado exemplifies the power of dedication and continuous learning. She joined Northgate in April 2007 as a scan coordinator and, with the company's support, has pursued higher education, earning a degree in accounting and later advancing into the accounting department. She further enhanced her expertise through the USC Marshall Food Industry Management program and completed the WAFC program in 2023.
Olivia leads a team of nine professionals responsible for ensuring the accuracy and flow of price and cost data across all systems at Northgate. Over the past two years, she has played a critical role in implementing a new ERP and supply chain management system to support the growing business.
Under her leadership, the data integrity team has rolled out a new point-of-sale system, digital menu boards and e-commerce catering solutions. Olivia's combination of determination, leadership and technical expertise has made her a respected and compassionate leader – an inspiration to her team and peers alike.

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2025 Women of Influence

Olivia Parker

Outreach and Communications Manager, Parker's Kitchen

Olivia Parker is a talented professional deserving of the food industry's recognition. She has grown Parker's Kitchen's charitable giving initiatives in strategic ways and helped establish the company as a valued community partner in markets throughout the Southeast. After joining the company in 2020, she was promoted to her current role in 2023, leading the company's successful charitable giving initiatives that have donated more than $30 million in six years. She oversees community outreach, charitable giving and internal communications. She coordinates staff engagement with local nonprofits and ensures that the company's philanthropic efforts are aligned with its core values. She oversees the company's round-up campaigns, including its first-year fundraiser with Wounded Warrior Project in 2024 that generated $300,000 for local veterans. She leads the Parker's Community Fund charitable giving initiative, which supports education, expands access to healthcare, celebrates veterans and first responders and decreases hunger within the corporate footprint. Parker serves on the boards of the Savannah Music Festival, the Educate Chatham Foundation and the Red Shoe Society, which supports Savannah's Ronald McDonald House. She is also a member of the Savannah Community Fund's Emerging Leaders Committee and a Union Mission volunteer.

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2025 Women of Influence

Parul Aggarwal

VP, Corporate Controller, Wakefern Food Corp.

Parul Aggarwal oversees essential financial operations, ensuring accuracy and compliance at Wakefern Food Corp., the nation’s largest retailer owned cooperative. She manages external financial reporting, substantial funds and corporate tax returns, while heading shared accounting services for Wakefern members.

Parul provides guidance on accounting policies, tax compliance and regulatory changes to the Wakefern Board of Directors, its subsidiaries and members. As a key member of the M&A strategy team, she advises on controls, policies and tax implications and contributes to finance-related committees. Her organization is a significant cost center, supporting substantial revenue for Wakefern and its membership. Parul has driven transformation by reorganizing her department and promoting a people-centric approach, creating efficiency improvements and leadership development. She spearheads the evaluation of potential SAP implementation, automation of processes and productivity improvements through Zero-Based Budgeting. Parul led the adoption of new accounting standards and established KPIs for financial operations.

Her values of ownership, collaboration and decision-making have driven significant changes in Wakefern’s financial transformation. Her philanthropic efforts focus on education and child well-being, partnering with various nonprofits locally and globally. She also raises funds for cancer nonprofits through her artistic endeavors.

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2025 Women of Influence

Rebecca Mertz

Category Manager, Bakery/Deli, Associated Grocers of New England

Rebecca Mertz's leadership, dedication and ability to inspire others are exceptional. She strives to make a meaningful impact. Her sales acumen is evident through 8 percent growth in the deli/bakery category.
Her strategic insights and execution have driven results, including the successful rollout of the Dietz and Watson Brand to high-volume stores, which resulted in a multimillion-dollar sales increase. This achievement highlights her ability to exceed expectations and contribute to the department's success.
As a leader, Rebecca excels in developing her team and fostering an environment of growth. Her leadership style is one of mentorship and empowerment, guiding her team to achieve outstanding results. She plays an integral role in the fresh department, elevating those around her and encouraging their professional development.
Rebecca leads by example in giving back to the community. As the lead of AG's Friendly Kitchen volunteer efforts, she organizes a team to serve meals twice a month at a local community kitchen, demonstrating her deep commitment to social responsibility. In addition, Rebecca is involved in AG's "Couch to 5K" initiative, inspiring others to embrace a healthier lifestyle. She participates in the race each year and encourages her colleagues to join her, fostering a sense of empowerment and wellness within the company.

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2025 Women of Influence

Renee Kristeller

Customer VP, Publix – Snacks, The Campbell's Company

Renee Kristeller leads the development and execution of strategic growth plans that drive sales, volume and share growth for Publix, one of Campbell's Snacks largest customers. She's responsible for a diverse portfolio encompassing many brands, including Cape Cod, Snyder's of Hanover, Pepperidge Farm, Goldfish, Kettle, Lance, Late July, Pretzel Crisps and Milano. She's built this portfolio of brands to 1.5x Campbell's brands' category share in total U.S. food.
Renee oversees a team of four customer sales leads and works to help shape the strategic direction and execution of brand strategies and category management initiatives. She develops joint business plans that bring customer strategies to life and manages more than $375 million dollars in sales.
She joined Campbell's in 2015, supporting the Snyder's of Hanover and Lance brands and has since held roles of increasing responsibility across sales strategy and category management for the snacks division.
Renee was part of Campbell's Innovation Team of the Year in 2023 for her role launching Kettle Brand Air Fried Kettle Cooked, Air Finished potato chips.
She serves on the leadership team for Campbell's Diversity and Inclusion Sales Council and is a mentor to many teammates across the sales organization.

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2025 Women of Influence

Rosie Poultney

VP, Data and Analytics, Flashfood

Rosie Poultney delivers insights to Flashfood's retail customers and creates monetization opportunities within food-waste solutions. Her expertise is in taking data and information available in grocery – what customers buy and how they buy it – and turning it into an understanding for Flashfood to put into processes for retailers. She manages a team of five, who transform the data function, report on impact metrics and drive better customer engagement and understanding.
This year, Rosie created shared language and goal-setting reports used on a daily basis internally and by retail partners. Her customer segmentation work uncovered a valuable finding: Flashfood's best customers visit the app multiple times a day and the most infrequent customers check the app to see what's there on a regular basis. With her catalogue project, Flashfood can make better recommendations on how products will sell across its partners to improve sales.
In addition to having a history of working with large scale customer data, Rosie is a volunteer at the Greater Boston Area Food Bank and a member of the FMI Research and Insight Committee.
Today, Flashfood is available at 2,300-plus stores across 20 store banners, 33 U.S. states and 10 of Canada's provinces. It has collectively saved shoppers more than $330 million on groceries – $70 million in 2024 alone – and diverted 130 million pounds of food from landfills, which equivalent to more than 100 million affordable meals.

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