2026 Women of Influence

Candace Henderson will celebrate her 20th anniversary with Houchens Food Group in July. She began her career after high school as an administrative assistant and quickly stood out through her initiative and dedication to learning every role within the office.

Within two years, she was attending trade shows and supporting promotional and buying activities, beginning a career that would expand across multiple divisions and support the broader food group.

Today, Henderson plays a key role in connecting store operations, merchandising strategy and regional leadership. She has helped streamline processes between regions, including sales reporting, advertising coordination, promotional planning and store communication.

Known for her collaborative leadership style, she often serves as a bridge between store teams, regional leaders and support departments, translating store-level insights into practical strategies that improve efficiency and execution.

A strong advocate for servant leadership, Henderson regularly spends time working alongside associates and managers in stores to better understand operational needs. In 2022, she assumed responsibility for managing the company's supply category, where her leadership has helped reduce costs year over year, resulting in nearly $9 million in annual savings.

She also supports community partnerships and fundraising initiatives benefiting organizations such as Children's of Alabama.

Courtney Meador exemplifies principled, visionary leadership in her department at Houchens Food Group. Serving more than 12,000 employees across 15 states, she provides strategic oversight for all human resources functions supporting four retail formats, a distribution warehouse and the corporate office.

Meador's leadership reflects operational excellence and a deep commitment to people. She spearheads enterprise-wide talent acquisition and retention strategies, shapes organizational culture and champions employee engagement initiatives that strengthen the company's ability to attract and develop top talent.

Meador also oversees payroll, compliance, employee relations, workers' compensation and crisis response efforts, ensuring consistent, fair and effective workforce practices across a complex, multi-location organization.

Between March 1, 2024-Feb. 28, 2025, she led a transformative culture initiative anchored in the "One Mission and 5 Rules" framework. She authored the company's new mission statement -- "Proudly empowering employee-owners, serving customers and supporting communities" -- creating a unifying foundation for accountability and engagement.

Through executive collaboration, enterprise-wide training and innovative communication strategies, Meador ensured the initiative was fully embedded into daily operations. She also launched Houchens Food Group University, a scalable online learning platform that streamlined onboarding.

Misty Bryant has enjoyed exceptional success in the grocery industry through her significant contributions to Houchens Food Group's operations team. After moving from merchandising support to operations, she brought valuable firsthand knowledge of merchandising and pricing to our stores' daily operations.

Under her leadership, Bryant has made a significant impact on HFG's efforts to reduce shrinkage. Her collaborative leadership style and ability to mentor peers and leaders have strengthened operational execution across the organization.

In preparation for her promotion to her current role for HFG's cost-plus format stores, she immersed herself in store operations, spending one-on-one time in a local store to learn every role within the operation.

Today, Bryant oversees six regional managers responsible for 70 stores. What truly sets her apart is her dedication to ongoing growth and community involvement. She is part of the Leadership Bowling Green Class of 2026, a program in partnership with the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce that fosters civic engagement and leadership. Through this program, she continues to explore, connect and give back to the community.

Bryant exemplifies the best of the industry. The influence she has had on the operations team in such a short period underscores her dedication, leadership and motivation.

Shannon Clark oversees marketing strategies for 400 locations in 15 states, with a focus on grocery, quick-service restaurants and Ace Hardware stores.

Under her leadership, Houchens Food Group streamlined its digital ecosystem by consolidating multiple platforms into a unified system, improving operational efficiency and enhancing the customer experience.

Clark led the launch of digital incentives and loyalty programs through partnerships with e-commerce vendors, creating a consistent, scalable approach across multiple brands.

She excels at translating strategy into practical solutions that strengthen marketing performance while making programs easier for stores to execute. Her collaboration with store teams and focus on the customer perspective ensures that marketing initiatives translate to the store level and help Houchens remain competitive in an evolving grocery landscape.

Clark also led the "Add Milk!" campaign in partnership with Auburn University's Hunger Solutions Institute as part of the Healthy Fluid Milk Incentive program. This initiative enables SNAP participants to buy discounted milk at Houchens' stores, helping families stretch their grocery budgets while increasing access to nutritious dairy products.

Through her leadership, innovation and commitment to community impact, Clark represents the very best of the grocery industry.