The Shelby-Griffin Report presents the 21st annual tribute to Women of Influence in the food industry. For 21 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.
2026 Women of Influence
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2026 Women of InfluenceJordan Carter
VP of Sales and Marketing, Leger & Son
Read MoreA dynamic leader and dedicated advocate for the produce industry, Jordan Carter's impact spans business performance, industry leadership and community engagement. In her current role, she has driven growth and strengthened customer relationships through strategic marketing, market analysis and a deep understanding of the watermelon category.
Rising quickly through the organization -- from logistics to leading sales and marketing -- she exemplifies results-oriented leadership and a commitment to excellence.
Carter's influence extends far beyond her company. She made history as the first female president of the National Watermelon Promotion Board, serving six years and helping guide national marketing and research efforts for the industry.
Today, she continues to break barriers as just the second female president in the 111-year history of the National Watermelon Association, where she also contributes through leadership roles on key committees.
A passionate supporter of developing future leaders, Carter helped launch the first Women's Committee for the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and remains engaged across multiple industry boards and advisory groups. Her leadership is grounded in authenticity, purpose and a genuine commitment to agriculture.
Carter represents the very best of the industry -- innovative, collaborative and dedicated to strengthening the future of food.
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2026 Women of InfluenceJordan Schenck
CEO, Flashfood
Read MoreSince taking the helm at Flashfood in May 2025, Jordan Schenck has led the company through a period of significant growth and impact, strengthening its role as a technology partner to grocers while helping families access more affordable food.
Flashfood's app-based marketplace connects shoppers with discounted surplus groceries at nearby retailers, reducing food waste while improving food affordability. Under Schenck's leadership, Flashfood helped divert more than 32 million pounds of food from landfills in 2025, equivalent to more than 26 million affordable meals.
The platform also facilitated the sale of 1.6 million produce boxes, expanding access to fresh food while helping retailers recover value from inventory that would otherwise go unsold.
Schenck also has driven strategic expansion across North America. Flashfood now operates in 33 U.S. states, all 10 Canadian provinces and more than 2,000 grocery locations.
During her tenure, the company launched a pilot with Kroger's Mid-Atlantic Division at 16 Richmond, Virginia-area stores, marking Flashfood's entry into the Southeast and a milestone partnership with one of the country's largest grocers.
As one of the few female CEOs in grocery technology, Schenck is helping shape a new category addressing two of the industry's most urgent challenges: food waste and grocery affordability.
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2026 Women of InfluenceJuliana Havrilko
Category Manager, Giant Food
Read MoreJuliana "Jules" Havrilko has done a tremendous job driving sales and market share in her role, while contributing to the non-perishables bottom line. In a retail landscape defined by shifting customer expectations and increased competitive pressure, she demonstrates the ability to turn complexity into opportunity.
Havriko elevated her category through a mix of data-driven decisions, innovative merchandising strategies and deep understanding of customer behavior. Her work has delivered significant sales growth, improved profitability and strengthened vendor partnerships, while continuing to deliver value to customers.
Havriko recently partnered with one of her largest vendors, building aggressive plans, collaborating with the field teams and identifying promotional gaps and execution in under-spaced sub-categories that were over-indexing elsewhere in the market and across the U.S. As a result, she helped grow the brand and category, delivering a positive ROI for Giant Food and the vendor.
In addition, Havriko continues to be a people leader and a "go-to" resource for her peers. She sets a clear vision while giving her team the autonomy to contribute ideas, all while getting their buy-in to achieve success.
Havriko's leadership extends beyond her team. She's created partnerships with vendors, supply chain, marketing and store operations, ensuring that all voices are heard during special projects, while still obsessing over customers.
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2026 Women of InfluenceJustine Meader
Store Manager, Hannaford Supermarkets
Read MoreJustine Meader has distinguished herself as a rising leader at Hannaford, demonstrating a clear vision for excellence and the determination to deliver results. While early in her tenure as a store manager, she has earned the respect of associates, peers and leaders through her strong communication, operational focus and genuine care for people.
Meader leads with transparency and purpose, recognizing stellar performance while holding her team accountable to Hannaford's high standards. Her leadership was evident during her transition to the high-volume store on Whitten Road in Augusta, Maine, where she has guided her new team while also supporting her former store through the leadership transition.
Associates note her presence on the sales floor and her willingness to engage with challenges, demonstrating the hands-on leadership that drives strong store performance.
Communication is one of Meader's strengths. She provides clear expectations, thoughtful feedback and professional insight while maintaining a sense of humor that helps build trust and connection with her team.
Meader prioritizes the associate experience, believing that engaged teams deliver the best results. She recognizes associates, creates moments of appreciation and fosters a positive culture. Through her dedication, resilience and people-first leadership, she is making an impact on Hannaford's business, culture and communities.
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2026 Women of InfluenceKacy Springer
Creative Development Project Manager, Schraad Sales & Marketing
Read MoreKacy Springer is a collaborative leader who bridges the gap between sales and marketing to strengthen both creative execution and business growth. In her current role, she works across departments to elevate the quality and impact of the organization's creative work while ensuring projects remain aligned with strategic sales objectives. Her ability to bring teams together around a shared vision helps streamline complex projects and produce stronger results for clients and partners.
In addition to her marketing leadership, Springer also contributes as a business development manager, where she is known for her solutions-focused approach to gaining and maintaining distribution. By prioritizing clear communication and strong relationships, she helps clients navigate challenges and identify opportunities that drive long-term success from farm to shelf to table.
Springer's leadership style centers on collaboration, positivity and a strong focus on people. She works to create alignment between teams that may traditionally operate separately, helping ensure ideas move forward efficiently and with shared purpose.
Outside of her professional role, Springer is committed to serving her community. She volunteers preparing and serving meals for first responders through her church, coaches girls' volleyball and softball and helps organize youth track meets. Through her work and community involvement, Springer consistently brings people together and inspires those around her.
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2026 Women of InfluenceKaela Canzoneri
Store Director, Brookshire Grocery Co.
Read MoreKaela Canzoneri exemplifies BGC's core value of competitive grit. Amid staffing challenges, she successfully led and opened a new store, building a strong, motivated team through consistent communication, clear expectations and hands-on leadership.
Canzoneri is equally committed to developing others. She leads by example, investing in training and mentorship that has resulted in six assistant store managers being promoted to store director from her store. She ensures her leadership team understands inventory performance and profitability drivers, empowering them to take ownership of results.
Her results speak for themselves. Under Canzoneri's direction, her store has ranked in the top three companywide for chocolate strawberry sales for three consecutive years and has led the company in King Cake sales during that same period. She quickly surpassed initial financial projections and continues to drive strong sales growth through disciplined execution and high merchandising standards.
Canzoneri's customer focus is unwavering. She creates meaningful connections, responds to concerns within 24 hours and fosters a culture where no customer is overlooked. She knows many customers by name and sets the tone for service excellence throughout her store.
Beyond the business, Canzoneri supports her community through involvement with a local food bank, Boys & Girls Club, Red River Revel, Barksdale Air Show and other initiatives. She is a proven leader whose impact extends far beyond her store walls.
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2026 Women of InfluenceKara O'Malley
Distribution Manager, Merchants Distributors (MDI)
Read MoreKara O'Malley plays an important role in strengthening the operational performance that supports independent grocers across the Merchants Distributors network. Through her leadership in warehouse operations, she has helped build a culture centered on engagement, accountability and continuous improvement.
O'Malley has been instrumental in improving employee retention by fostering an environment where employees feel supported, valued and connected to the organization's mission. She emphasizes communication, development and recognition so employees understand how their work contributes to serving retailers and their customers.
O'Malley also has helped drive improvements in warehouse efficiency by working with her team to identify opportunities to improve processes and increase productivity while maintaining a strong focus on safety, reliability and service.
Committed to developing her team, O'Malley encourages employees to expand their skills and pursue opportunities for growth within the organization. Through her focus on engagement, operational discipline and employee development, she continues to strengthen the teams that keep the supply chain moving and support the retailers MDI serves each day.
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2026 Women of InfluenceKaren Weinstein
VP of Supply Chain, Imperial Distributors
Read MoreDuring the first five months in her current role, Karen Weinstein has become a transformative force at Imperial Distributors, bringing disciplined leadership, operational rigor and strategic clarity to a complex distribution network serving thousands of retail locations.
Through her process-driven approach, Weinstein has strengthened the structure and consistency of supply chain operations across procurement, inventory flow, logistics and distribution execution, with a strong focus on improving speed, accuracy and visibility.
Weinstein's impact is defined not only by results but by how she brings people together to solve problems. She has driven cross-departmental collaboration on major improvements requiring close coordination across supply chain, sales, merchandising and operations, creating stronger organizational alignment and better customer outcomes.
Her communication has elevated the company's responsiveness during critical situations, including tariff volatility and infrastructure upgrades. By anticipating risks and communicating early and clearly, she has helped the organization navigate disruption with confidence and minimal customer impact.
Weinstein combines analytical precision with solutions-oriented leadership, building momentum for long-term operational excellence. Her ability to bring structure to complexity and lead through change makes her deserving of this recognition.
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2026 Women of InfluenceKarin Humanik
Senior Director of Produce Merchandising, Harris Teeter
Read MoreKarin Humanik joined Harris Teeter in 1998 as a category manager and worked her way up to her current position. In this role, she organizes and controls an assigned group of categories to optimize profit and meet marketing, financial and corporate growth objectives.
Humanik aids senior staff in formulating and administering top-level organization plans to support and ensure the success of these initiatives. She leads her team as they question every aspect of the produce department to bring forward ideas and opportunities to make improvements that will resonate with customers and deliver the freshest product in the market.
Humanik leads the End to End Produce Initiative, which is centered on improving the quality of product procured, delivered and sold in-store to be the freshest in the market. The Initiative also focuses on improving the quality of overall shopping experience, point of differentiation and value for produce as rated by our customers.
Humanik sits on the Harris Teeter Women's Empowerment Group Committee, the International Fresh Produce Association Retail Council and is president of her local Homeowner's Association Board.
She has coordinated and sponsored "In the Cup for Iris- Putting Contest", part of the Sandra Ray Invitational golf fundraiser to support the fight against Alzheimer's.
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2026 Women of InfluenceKarla Gonzalez
Customer Experience Specialist, Northgate González Markets
Read MoreKarla Gonzalez is a passionate, results-oriented leader. She brings energy and enthusiasm to her work, with a natural ability to rally teams and collaborate effectively with those around her.
Authentic and approachable, Gonzalez builds strong connections and fosters a high-performing environment. She leads with compassion while demonstrating the strength and resilience to achieve ambitious goals.
Grounded in her values, Gonzalez maintains a strong focus on performance, results, team development and operational excellence.
Recognized by her organization as a high-potential leader, she was selected to attend the Food Industry Management program at the University of Southern California, an investment in her continued growth and future leadership impact. She represents a rising leader who is expanding her influence and helping shape the future of the food industry.
Celebrating the Women of Influence in the food industry for 21 years!
Presented by The Shelby-Griffin Report
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