Carl Marks, EVP and chief strategy officer at Associated Grocers, will retire in October, marking the close of 27 years with the company across two distinct tenures.
Marks initially joined Associated Grocers in 1988, having started his career in the grocery industry “sort of accidentally” at a small wholesaler in Alexandria, Louisiana, followed by a stint at Grocers Supply Co. in Houston. He began in the accounting field.
Homesick for Louisiana and its small-town community life, Marks returned and started at AG under then-CFO Jay Campbell.
“He had me work on all kinds of special projects across the entire enterprise,” said Marks, who steadily took on new responsibilities over the years – from retail systems to becoming SVP of information services and CIO.
“I’m not a guy with a technical background, but I’ve always been a person who understands the business and figures out how to leverage technology to enhance the business mission and goals,” Marks said.
He recalled navigating the company through the Y2K project.
“We felt very good about that, because that wasn’t about technology as much as business continuity. And I felt that was a very important goal for our company and for our retailers.”
In 2005, following open heart surgery, Marks decided to pursue a long-held desire to work in the nonprofit sector. He spent 10 years with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, a cause close to his heart as he has lived with Type 1 diabetes for 51 years. This period took him to Florida, where he met many people and successfully raised funds for the cause.
A call from Emile Breaux, then-president of Associated Grocers who Marks had hired while still at the company, eventually drew him back.
“I was one of those guys who said I did my thing in the grocery industry. I don’t think I want to go back there,” Marks said. However, the pull of “the friendships I made here, the relationships I made here, the never-ending challenges to help our retailers succeed – all of that attracted me back.
“I came to realize that while I was chasing a mission [at JDRF] … the mission here is very important,” he said, citing the success of retailers, their teams and consumers in local communities. “I fell in love with our mission all over again.”
Since his return 10 years ago, Marks has taken on various leadership roles, overseeing distribution and transportation, as well as sales and marketing, before moving into his current EVP role assisting CEO David Politz with strategic projects.
“David worked for me many years ago also, in accomplishing some of the strategic projects for our company,” Marks noted.
“I have mixed emotions about retiring in October. But I think for my health, it’s something I need to do. But I’m going to miss it terribly, because this company has a rich history of doing so many … state-of-the-art and leading-edge things to get better, to engage in continuous improvement and, very importantly, make a difference to our retailers so they can compete effectively in a marketplace.
“Between 27 years committed to this mission, 10 years committed to another mission, I feel like I’ve had a mission-driven life. I feel very fulfilled.”
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Foundation of service
Marks emphasized the company’s core value: service. Asked to help define AG’s core values, he recounted how he and Roeshawn Peters, the company’s corporate marketing manager, reviewed 25 years of annual reports.
“We built a word cloud,” he said. “The No. 1 word in that cloud was service. So we formalized it. It stands for various values that we cherish here, but it’s all about service. That’s who we’ve been from the get-go, and that’s how this organization is going to be to the very end.
“You got to love service. You got to really support your retailers. But we also serve one another as employees, and departments serve one another so that together, as a company, we can accomplish our goals. So we’re all about service.”
Marks lauded Politz’s leadership.
“He is a people person. He cares about the people he works with, the people who work for him and the people for whom he works,” Marks said.
He added that Politz complements this with a “strong intellect” and “technical expertise,” having been involved in every department due to the importance of technology.
“He is not the stereotypical head of IT guy,” Marks said. “The people part, all the soft skills are there as well. And so I think he’s going to be excellent as a leader.”
He added that Politz has a great relationship with the board of directors. “They all know that he has AG’s best interests at heart.”
Marks also noted that while Politz makes the final decisions, he “very much respects the input, the feedback, the ideas, the suggestions from the entire team in formulating a decision. But he’s not into analysis paralysis. He gets all the input, and then we formulate the best decision for the company, and we move forward.”
Associated Grocers also is enhancing its community presence. Marks mentioned the creation of AGives!, the company’s nonprofit, a few years ago.
“Our employees contribute to our nonprofit … and we have a strong, clearly defined mission that we follow … and that’s making a difference in the community and getting our organization’s name out there more than it has in the past.”
The company also is undertaking a significant rebranding effort, including a logo overhaul. The focus, Marks said, will be on emphasizing AG’s role in supporting Louisiana’s rich food culture.
“David wants to put more emphasis and focus on that. And I totally concur with him,” Marks said.
Internally, Marks described Associated Grocers as “a community of people. We don’t like office politics; we don’t believe in silos. We like to tear down the walls. We’re all in it together as a team, and we have each other’s back. We often find ourselves in our roles of service to other people who work here, not just to the company’s mission. And I think our retailers respect that.”